effect of substrate temperature on the surface of cathodic cage plasma nitrided aisi 430 ferritic stainless steel

The cathodic cage plasma nitriding (ccpn) system has been widely used as a better and low-cost surface modification technique for stainless steel and other metals. the efficacy of the ccpn system depends upon several control parameters. the effect of the radius and the shape of the cathodic cage (aluminum) on the electric potential at the sample surface was investigated using comsol multiphysics. the ccpn system was optimized using these results.  the role of temperature on the performance of ccpn on aisi 430 ferritic stainless steel was investigated experimentally. the samples of aisi 430 ferritic stainless steel were treated at varied temperatures (200oc-400oc) under fixed processing conditions of the ccpn system. the nitrided samples were characterized using x-ray diffraction, micro-hardness tester, cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ball-on-disc wear tester.