Interaction between nitrogen plasma and tungsten

•Mode of tungsten nitriding.•Mixture of nitrogen (70%) and hydrogen (30%). The set of experiments using a glow discharge of direct current in the mixture of working gases (nitrogen-hydrogen) was carried out in order to choose optimal method of tungsten nitriding. In the result of experiments it was chosen nitriding mode which leads to formation of tungsten nitrides on the surface of irradiated sample. Analysis methods SEM, EDS, X-ray diffraction were used to determine parameters such as the structure, microhardness, phase and element composition of the irradiated tungsten surface, and also the depth of nitrogen penetration into tungsten. The mode of tungsten nitriding, which can be used for studying the effect of plasma and thermal influence on nitrided surface of tungsten (forming of tungsten “fuzz” at nitrided tungsten, sputtering of nitrided tungsten) was determined.