Wear Behavior of Plasma-Nitrided 2Cr13 Martensitic Stainless Steel under Air and Vacuum

The wear behaviour of the plasma-nitrided 2Cr13 steel disks under air and vacuum have been investigated using a pin-on-disk type tribometer with dry sliding condition. The unnitrided pins of the same material were used for the wear couples. Microhardness measurements, X-ray diffraction analysis, optical microscopy were used to examine the microhardness profile, the surface phases crystal structure and morphology of the specimens. After wear testing, the scanning electron microscopy of the wear tracks on the disk and pin specimens was performed to reveal the wear mechanism. The surface profile of wear tracks of the disk specimens was examined by a profilometer.