Kinetics of the UNS S32750 super duplex stainless steel low-temperature plasma nitriding

This work reports an experimental investigation on the thermodynamic and kinetic view-point of the nitrided layer growth behavior, carried out separately at ferrite and austenite phase grains, for the UNS S32750 super duplex stainless steel (SDSS). For this purpose, and motivated by the DSSs distinct behavior showing formation of two- or single-phase nitrided layers, which apparently depend on the steel substrate chemical composition, two series of treatment were studied here, one varying the nitriding temperature on the 300-450 °C range for 4 h time, and other one varying the time on the 2-8 h range at 350 °C. Microstructural characterization of studied layers by means of SEM and EDS analysis, XRD and microhardness measurements showed precipitation-free nitrogen-expanded austenite layer formation on both steel phases for all samples treated up to 400 °C. The nitriding kinetics study showed that the layer thickness on both steel phases is proportional to the square root of the treatment time and follows an Arrhenius law for the studied treatment temperatures. The nitrogen diffusion activation energy, separately determined from the layer growth on each steel phase, was 115±3.2 and 120±5.4 kJmol^-1, for austenite and ferrite grains, respectively. (author)