Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance of Nitrided Austenitic Stainless Steel (ASS) 316L at Low Temperature

Gas nitriding is a process where the surface of metal is coated with the nitriding layer which is formed by flowing the Nitrogen gas, N2, on the surface of metal in tube furnace. The process is one of the most effective ways to increase the corrosion resistance of metals as well as their mechanical properties. This study is to investigate the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of nitrided Austenitic Stainless Steel (ASS) 316L at low temperature. The 316L samples are exposed to nitrogen gas in the tube furnace at 400oC for different duration of times which are 4 hours, 8 hours and 12 hours. The microstructure of the nitrided 316L had changes based on the result gain from the Optical Microscope (OM). After that, the hardness test that was conducted and the surface hardness is increasing for each samples for different duration of times. However, the hardness value decrease to the centre of the samples. The corrosion resistance of the samples had been improved because of the nitride layer on the surface of the sample