%0 Journal Article %A Sari, A. H. %A Astashynski, Valiantsin M. %A Kostyukevich, E. A. %A Kuzmitski, Anton M. %A Uglov, Vladimir V. %A Cherenda, Nikolai N. %A Petukhou, Yu. A. %D 2012 %I Begell House %K compression plasma flow, surface alloying, austenitic steel, zirconium nitride %N 4 %P 297-313 %R 10.1615/HighTempMatProc.2014011948 %T AUSTENITIC STEEL SURFACE ALLOYED WITH ZIRCONIUM USING COMPRESSION PLASMA FLOW %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/57d172397126f956,6aa9f0494a844a11,1e2ac15a75ca982a.html %V 16 %X In this study, the effect of a nitrogen compression plasma flow on the microstructural, mechanical, and tribological properties, as well as the elemental and phase compositions of a Zr/austenitic steel system, has been investigated. The Zr/steel system was exposed to a single pulse of the compression plasma flow or to a series of pulses of different energies. The plasma pulse duration and discharge current were 100 µs and 80 kA, respectively. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analyses, and subjected to Vickers microhardness and friction tests. The findings showed the formation of a surface modified layer alloyed by Zr depending on the absorbed energy value was about 12−20 µm. An increase in both the number of pulses and absorbed energy density provides a more uniform zirconium distribution in the modified layer. The surface microhardness and wear resistance of the treated samples increased by factors of 1.6 and 5.4, respectively. The modified layer contains α- and γ-iron-based solid solutions, the Fe23Zr6 intermetallic compound, and ZrN and Cr2N nitrides due to nitrogen diffusion. %8 2014-10-24