Gaseous nitriding of Co-10 at% and -15 at% Cr alloys at 400 °C and 450 °C

Co-10 at% and -15 at% Cr with the stable hexagonal close packed (hcp) crystal structure at room temperature have been subjected to gaseous nitriding treatment using nitriding temperatures of 400 °C and 450 °C far below the austenite start temperature. Using X-ray and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), structural changes as a result of nitrogen incorporation into the initial hcp lattice can be divided into the following steps: (i) expansion of the lattice due to N uptake yielding hcp (hcp_exp) at nitriding temperature of 400 °C, (ii) gradual transformation of hcp_exp into an expanded face-centered cubic phase (fcc_exp) by increasing time at 400 °C/ or temperature to 450 °C (mixture of two phases), (iii) development of stable nitrided layer containing fcc_exp using moderate nitriding times up to 3 h at 450 °C and (iv) decomposition of fcc_exp layer into CrN nitrides and less expanded austenite and the reverse transformation from fcc to hcp at near-surface regions at 450 °C after prolonged nitriding time of 24 h. Due to occurrence of step (iv), the square-root treatment-time dependence of the nitrided layer thickness breaks down. Nitrogen-depth profiles obtained for Co-15 at% Cr by glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES) along with the Non-Rutherford MeV proton backscattering spectrometry reveal a nitrogen supersaturation of around 20 at% at surface-adjacent areas in hcp_exp. A relatively large unit volume expansion has been recognized for hcp_exp with a change of c/a ratio of around 0.6%. Hardness-depth profiles obtained for nitrided Co-10 at% and -15 at% Cr alloys using nanoindentation evidence an increase in hardness inside the nitrided layer, compared to the untreated core.