The Role of the Material of Active Screen During the Plasma Nitriding Process

In this research the effect of the active screen’s material was investigated. 42CrMo4 steel was plasma nitrided with unalloyed steel, titanium and nickel active screen at 490 and 510 °C for 4h in 75 % N 2 + 25 % H 2 gas mixture. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used for the characterisation of the surface properties. Iron-nitride was not formed on the surface with nickel screen. The evaluation of examination results showed that most of the detected nitrogen was molecular (N 2 ) in the formed layer.