Wear Resistance of a Nitrided Microporous Surface Made of Structural Steel Obtained by Electrolytic Plasma Treatment

Abstract

The paper considers the results of studies on the wear resistance of machine parts made of structural steels during the formation of micropores in their surface layer by the dealloying method based on electrolytic plasma treatment. The technological conditions for the formation of a microporous surface layer by electrolytic plasma treatment with subsequent modification by ion implantation and ion nitriding are presented. It is shown that the creation of a microporous layer contributes to an increase in the tribotechnical characteristics of surfaces under lubrication conditions. It is shown that the use of the electrolyte-plasma surface treatment method allows high-performance formation of a microporous surface layer that does not require further mechanical processing, and in one technological cycle is able to polish it. It is shown that the use of preliminary preparation of the surface layer for nitriding using high-energy processing methods can significantly increase the wear resistance of the microporous layer. The results of comparative tests of microporous surfaces with various processing options are presented. It is shown that the use of microporous surfaces in conditions of friction with lubrication makes it possible to increase the wear resistance of 40X and 40KHN steels by about 1.5–2 times, and their nitriding provides an increase in wear resistance compared with simple traditional nitriding by about three times, and compared with microporous surfaces without nitriding by more than nine times.