Surface Characterization of Duplex Surface Treatments: AISI H13 Tool Steel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15340303Keywords:
AISI H13 Tool Steel, Duplex Surface Treatment, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), MicrohardnessAbstract
This research provides an extensive analysis of duplex-treated AISI H13 tool steel after gas nitriding and coating application with Titanium Carbide (TiC) combined with Chromium Nitride (CrN) and Aluminum Titanium Nitride (AlTiN). The popular tooling material of AISI H13 received 24-hour gas nitriding at 400 °C to form its nitrogen-enriched outer layer. Each coating received equivalent deposition parameters after the base conditions for maintenance of consistent outcomes between specimens. The SEM analysis together with EDS and XRD methods was used for investigating phase transformations and elemental dispersal patterns in the treated coatings. The mechanical property analysis used Vickers microhardness testing methodology. A hardness measurement of 242 HV was recorded for the untreated material but the amount increased to 1062 HV after the nitriding process. Among the different coatings AlTiN achieved the greatest surface hardness level at 2811 HV while TiC reached 2717 HV and CrN settled at 2105 HV. The study confirms that duplex surface treatment enhances H13 tool steel durability and its resistance to wear by showing AlTiN as the superior coating for demanding operating conditions with high heat and load requirements.
Downloads
References
Grzesik W., & Małecka J. (2021). The oxidation behaviour and notch wear formation of TiAlN coated tools using different oxidation techniques. Materials, 14, 1330. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14061330.
Chang Y.-Y., & Amrutwar S. (2019). Effect of plasma nitriding pretreatment on the mechanical properties of AlCrSiN-coated tool steels. Materials, 12, 795. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050795.
Xia B., Zhou S., Wang Y., Chen H., Zhang J., & Qi B. (2021). Multilayer architecture design to enhance load-bearing capacity and tribological behavior of CrAlN coatings in seawater. Ceram. Int., 47, 27430–27440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2021.06.165.
Chang Y.-Y., Chang B.-Y., & Chen C.-S. (2022). Effect of CrN addition on the mechanical and tribological performances of multilayered AlTiN/CrN/ZrN hard coatings. Surf. Coat. Technol., 433, 128107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2022.128107.
Fang B.Z. et al. (2022). Upgrading the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cell applications. Adv. Mater. Interfaces., 9, 2200349. https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202200349.
Arabczyk W. et al. (2022). Oscillatory mechanism of α-Fe (N)↔ γ’-Fe₄N phase transformations during nanocrystalline iron nitriding. Materials, 15, 1006. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15031006.
Wang Y. et al. (2022). Advances in latest application status, challenges, and future development direction of electrospinning technology in the biomedical. J. Nanomater. 2022, 3791908. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3791908.
Xu W.C. et al. (2022). Recent advances in open-cell porous metal materials for electrocatalytic and biomedical applications. Acta Metall. Sin., 58, 1527–1544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40195-022-01451-2.
Lin Y.H. et al. (2023). Gas nitriding behavior of refractory metals and implications for multi-principal element alloy design. J. Alloys Compd., 947, 169568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2023.169568.
Xie Y. et al. (2023). High-throughput investigation of Cr-N cluster formation in Fe-35Ni-Cr system during low-temperature nitriding. Acta Mater., 253, 118921. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.118921.
Jiang X.J. et al. (2022). Improving vacuum gas nitriding of a Ti-based alloy via surface solid phase transformation. Vacuum, 197, 110860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2021.110860.
Guo J.-Y., Kuo Y.-L., & Wang H.-P. (2021). A facile nitriding approach for improved impact wear of martensitic cold-work steel using H2/N2 mixture gas in an AC pulsed atmospheric plasma jet. Coatings., 11, 1119. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11091119.
Ahmad F., Zhang L., Zheng J., Sidra I., & Zhang S. (2020). Characterization of AlCrN and AlCrON coatings deposited on plasma nitrided AISI H13 steels using ion-source-enhanced arc ion plating. Coatings., 10, 306. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10040306.
Balerio R., Kim H., Morell-Pacheco A., Hawkins L., Shiau C.-H., & Shao L. (2021). ZrN phase formation, hardening and nitrogen diffusion kinetics in plasma nitrided zircaloy-4. Materials, 14, 3572. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14133572.
Le N.M., Schimpf C., Biermann H., & Dalke A. (2021). Effect of nitriding potential KN on the formation and growth of a “White Layer” on iron aluminide alloy. Met. Mater. Trans. B., 52, 414–424. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-020-02029-x.
Hacısalihoğlu İ., Kaya G., Ergüder T.O., Mandev E., Manay E., & Yıldız F. (2021). Tribological, and thermal properties of plasma nitrided Ti45Nb alloy. Surf. Interfaces, 22, 100893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfin.2020.100893.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Umesh Subhash Patharkar, Sunil Apparao Patil
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Research Articles in 'International Journal of Engineering and Management Research' are Open Access articles published under the Creative Commons CC BY License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license allows you to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt – remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
