WEAR BEHAVIOR OF ION-IMPLANTED STEEL SURFACES

The authors present some results of wear resistance of steel implanted with nitrogen ions with energies of 50 kev. The experiments on wear behavior were carried out with a testing system of the 'pin-on-disk'-type. The dependence of the volume abrasion on the sliding distance was investigated for two German steels - C100W1 90MnV8 - for different implanted doses. The wear resistance of both steels was improved by nitrogen implantation with increasing dose in the range from 10**1**6 to 10**1**8 ions cm** minus **2. The change in hardness induced by nitrogen implantation was determined simultaneously by measuring the microhardness. The measured hardness increased for doses greater than 10**1**7 ions cm** minus **2.