Nitriding of High-Alloy Steel During Plasma Arc Remelting

Abstract

An experimental unit is described for effective alloying of steel with nitrogen by plasma arc remelting. Production regimes are developed for unit operation making it possible to obtain a super-equilibrium content of nitrogen (up to 0.22%) in remelted metal with action of a plasma flow at a temperature of ≈ 7000 K in molten metal with the metal temperature in the arc-binding zone of up to ≈ 2700 K. The technology of remelting of 55Kh20G9N4 steel facilitates grain refinement, an increase in strength properties, ductility, and overall energy for failure, wear resistance under dry friction conditions and a reduction in the corrosion rate.