Development of a methodology for measuring the evolution of duplex stainless-steel low-temperature plasma nitrided phases expansion using confocal laser scanning microscopy

Abstract

Samples of duplex stainless steel SAF 2507 were low-temperature plasma nitrided to characterize separately, on the surface, the behavior of its ferrite and austenite phases in relation to two competing processes, that is, one caused by enrichment by nitrogen, resulting in possible expansion, and the other caused by the removal of superficial atoms via sputtering, which may lead to the retraction of the studied phases. Since these phases have different different compositions and crystalline structures, of which the diffusivity and solubility of nitrogen in them are dependent, a different response for each type of phase can be expected. In this article, an innovative methodology has been developed to quantify and clarify which effects are predominant in the course of nitriding for each of these phases. The results indicate that phase expansion prevails over sputtering.