Study the Fatigue-Wear Behavior of a Plasma Electrolytic Nitrocarburized (PEN/C) 316L Stainless Steel

In the present study, a suitable machine was developed in the laboratory to investigate the fatigue-wear behavior of the untreated 316L austenitic stainless steel and samples treated by plasma electrolytic nitrocarburizing process under different combinations of cyclic loading and contact pressure. The fracture cycles as a function of bending stress were recorded while a constant contact pressure was applied simultaneously. As a result, the PEN/C treated specimens exhibited a higher resistance (about 40% for 15.6 N contact load and about 60% for 25 N contact load) under the application of simultaneous cyclic stress and contact pressure. Also it was shown that under a range of combined fatigue and wear stresses, the specimens exhibit a better life than the conditions of performing wear or fatigue tests separately and this effect was much more observable for PEN/C-treated samples. The gravimetrical weight loss values in the fatigue-wear test were also measured at intervals 5000 to 300,000 cycles (with the contact stress = 6.25 MPa and the bending stress = 87 MPa). The results showed a better wear resistance for the treated surface at the first stage of the process.