Investigation of influence of ion nitriding in the glow discharge with magnetic field on microstructure and microhardness of steel HSS M2 with preliminary plastic deformation

Abstract

This work was devoted to the study of the influence of magnetic field on microhardness of HSS M2steel during ion nitriding in the glow discharge. The samples were preliminarily subjected to intenseplastic torsion deformation (IPTD). Standard methods of optical metallography and microhardnessmeasurements were used in the experiments. It was found that IPTD allows creating ultrafine-grained(UFG) structure in the material, and magnetic field allows intensifying the process of ion nitriding byincreasing the number of ionization acts, which leads to an increase in the thickness of the diffusionlayer and microhardness compared to ion nitriding without preliminary IPTD and without magneticfield. The results obtained indicate the importance of using a magnetic field during ion nitridingin the glow discharge. The described effects are of potential interest for improving the mechanicalproperties of high-speed steels.