Wear behaviour of martensitic stainless steel after PIII surface treatment

Martensitic stainless steel samples—1.4021 (X20Cr13), 1.4034 (X46Cr13), 1.4057 (X17CrNi16.2), 1.4104 (X14CrMoS17) and 1.4542(X5CrNiCuNb17.4)—were implanted with nitrogen using plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) at different temperatures between 320 and 380 °C and at different pulse voltages for up to 3 h. The formation of an expanded martensite layer was found after implantation for all samples with a surface martens hardness of up to 10,000 N/mm2. The wear was measured in a dry ball-on-disc configuration. The specific wear was reduced by a factor of 2–10 to the same absolute level as for expanded austenite. With increasing contact pressure, an increased wear rate was found, while no influence of the speed was observed.