Simulation of microhardness profiles of titanium alloys after surface nitriding using artificial neural network

Two artificial neural network (ANN) models for simulation and predictions of microhardness profiles of titanium and titanium alloys after gas and plasma nitriding were designed. For the first model, data for both gas and plasma nitriding using different gas mixtures was collected. The second model was created as a continuation of the first one using data only for gas nitriding in pure nitrogen atmosphere. The models showed a good performance, when validating using literature data and own experimental results. Microhardness profiles for existing cases were predicted using the models that showed a good correspondence with the experimental results. Using the models, microhardness profiles after different conditions of nitriding have been predicted and compared. The influence of processing parameters of nitriding on the microhardness profiles has been studied and discussed. The models can be used for calculating microhardness profiles after nitriding at temperatures between 700 and 1100 °C for periods of time between 1 and 100 h.