Possibility of increasing wear resistance of steel by combining anodic plasma electrolytic treatment

The opportunity of enhancement of the wear resistance of steel by combining anodic plasma electrolytic saturation of steel with interstitial elements followed by, quenching and plasma electrolytic polishing was shown. The samples of low-carbon steel were subjected to plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising. The samples of medium carbon steel were subjected to plasma electrolytic boriding. The formation of the modified layer including a hardened diffusion layer and a surface oxide layer occurs as a result of diffusion saturation. After nitrocarburising and boriding the steel samples were polished in an aqueous solution of ammonium sulphate. Conducting the surface polishing results in the removal of a loose part of the oxide layer (predominantly FeO), which reduces the surface roughness more than a half. Wear testing reveals that wear resistance of steel samples after polishing is higher than nitrocarburising ones of 1.8 times and boriding ones of 21.5 times