Effects of Plasma-Chemical Composition on AISI 316L Surface Modification by Active Screen Nitrocarburizing Using Gaseous and Solid Carbon Precursors

Low-temperature plasma nitrocarburizing treatments are applied to improve the surface properties of austenitic stainless steels by forming an expanded austenite layer without impairing the excellent corrosion resistance of the steel. Here, low-temperature active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) was investigated in an industrial-scale cold-wall reactor to compare the effects of two active screen materials: (i) a steel active screen with the addition of methane as a gaseous carbon-containing precursor and (ii) an active screen made of carbon-fibre-reinforced carbon (CFC) as a solid carbon precursor. By using both active screen materials, ASPNC treatments at variable plasma conditions were conducted using AISI 316L. Moreover, insight into the plasma-chemical composition of the H2-N2 plasma for both active screen materials was gained by laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) combined with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). It was found that, in the case of a CFC active screen in a biased condition, the thickness of the nitrogen-expanded austenite layer increased, while the thickness of the carbon-expanded austenite layer decreased compared to the non-biased condition, in which the nitrogen- and carbon-expanded austenite layers had comparable thicknesses. Furthermore, the crucial role of biasing the workload to produce a thick and homogeneous expanded austenite layer by using a steel active screen was validated.