Factors For Increasing Strength & Fatigue Resistance Of The Steel Surfaces

The main goal of surface engineering is to enhance the mechanical properties of the surface of materials while still maintaining the greatest properties - such as mechanical strength, impact resistance, density and corrosion. Although wear and tear are considered mechanical damage, they are often associated with corrosion.

In the presence of a corrosive environment, the fatigue limit of the materials is significantly reduced, which makes it difficult to determine the fatigue limit. Therefore, the corrosion resistance of materials is very often increased, at the same time improving the wear or fatigue resistance.

Methods for increasing strength

The methods used in surface design to control wear and tear fractures are divided into types:

 

●     Coating

This includes applying coatings to the surface of the material. These coatings generally have good corrosion resistance and high wear resistance. However, unavoidable coating defects, such as cracks, crevices and holes, can cause corrosion problems, exposing the substrate to a corrosive environment. There are many different methods for applying abrasion and fatigue coatings, such as electroplating, physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), pulsed laser (PLD) coating, and so on.

 

●     Surface modification

This method changes both the surface structure and the chemistry of the material without applying an outer layer; the metal surface has been modified to meet the surface requirements. This process is usually performed by dispersing one or more elements on a metal surface. These types of processes are often called diffuse coatings. 

Nitriding is one of the most important and common processes of surface modification that can improve the corrosion resistance of steel parts by increasing the wear and fatigue resistance. In this process, atomic nitrogen penetrates the surface of the steel and reacts with the atoms of the substrate to form nitrides. Metal nitrides are hardened and increase the wear resistance of the surface. This is a well-known process of heat treatment of steel parts to improve their wear and fatigue resistance. 

We specialize in pulse plasma ion nitriding in the United States. To learn more about the Plasma Ion Nitriding process, visit http://www.ans-ion.net/ .