Duplex treatment with Hastelloy cage on AISI 5160 steel cutting tools

AISI 5160 steel has high toughness and ductility. However, in specific applications, better tribological performance is required. In this sense, the study's objective was to perform plasma nitriding with Hastelloy's cathodic cage followed by the conventional plasma nitriding in AISI 5160 steel to produce high hardness and wear resistance. The results showed that the samples and cutting tools subjected to this process showed higher wear resistance than untreated samples and high-speed steel tools. The sample submitted to treatments with 450°C and 3 h showed greater surface hardness and less volume loss in the mechanical and machining tests. Therefore, the duplex treatment presented in this work with posterior plasma nitriding proved efficient with the low processing time.