• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.173-178
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• 2011

Separator of stack in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is high cost and heavy. If we make it low cost and lighter, it will have a great ripple. In this study, low carbon steel is used as base metal of separator because the cost of low carbon steel is very cheaper commercial metal material than stainless steels, which is widely used as separator. Low carbon steel has not a good corrosion resistance. In order to improve the corrosion resistance and electrolytic conductivity, low carbon steel needs to be surface treated. We made Chromium electroplated layer of $5{\mu}m$, $10{\mu}m$ thickness on the surface of low carbon steel and it was nitrided for 2 hours at $1000^{\circ}C$ in a furnace with 100 torr nitrogen gas pressure. Cross-sectional and surface microstructures of surface treated low carbon steel are investigated using SEM. And crystal structures are investigated by XRD. Interfacial contact resistance and corrosion tests were considered to simulate the internal operating conditions of PEMFC stack. The corrosion test was performed in 0.1 N $H_2SO_4$ + 2 ppm $F^-$ solution at $80^{\circ}C$. Throughout this research, we try to know that low carbon steel can be replaced stainless steel in separator of PEMFC.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.194-202
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• 2019

A systematic investigation was made on the influence of processing parameters such as gas composition and treatment temperature on the surface characteristics of hardened layers of low temperature plasma nitrided 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel. Various nitriding processes were conducted by changing temperature ($370^{\circ}C$ to $430^{\circ}C$) and changing $N_2$ percentage (10% to 25%) for 15 hours in the glow discharge environment of a gas mixture of $N_2$ and $H_2$ in a plasma nitriding system. In this process a constant pressure of 4 Torr was maintained. Increasing nitriding temperature from $370^{\circ}C$ to $430^{\circ}C$, increases the thickness of S phase layer and the surface hardness, and also makes an improvement in corrosion resistance, irrespective of nitrogen percent. On the other hand, increasing nitrogen percent from 10% to 25% at $430^{\circ}C$ decreases corrosion resistance although it increases the surface hardness and the thickness of S phase layer. Therefore, optimized condition was selected as nitriding temperature of $430^{\circ}C$ with 10% nitrogen, as at this condition, the treated sample showed better corrosion resistance. Moreover to further increase the thickness of S phase layer and surface hardness without compromising the corrosion behavior, further research was conducted by fixing the $N_2$ content at 10% with introducing various amount of $CH_4$ content from 0% to 5% in the nitriding atmosphere. The best treatment condition was determined as 10% $N_2$ and 5% $CH_4$ content at $430^{\circ}C$, where the thickness of S phase layer of about $17{\mu}m$ and a surface hardness of $980HV_{0.1}$ were obtained (before treatment $250HV_{0.1}$ hardness). This specimen also showed much higher pitting potential, i.e. better corrosion resistance, than specimens treated at different process conditions and the untreated one.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.171.1-171.1
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• 2016

재료의 표면 강화 방법 중의 하나인 질화공정을 이용하여 탄소강 S45C 소재의 질화 거동에 대하여 연구하였다. $520^{\circ}C$ 온도에서 질화 공정을 진행하여 공정시간에 따른 Kn값을 수소 센서로 측정하여 공정시간에 따른 N-potential의 변화와 그에 따른 화합물층 성장 및 화합물층의 상변화에 대해 관찰하였다. 화합물 층의 미세구조 변화는 광학현미경 및 주사전자현미경을 통해 관찰하였다. 가스 질화 처리 후 표면경도는 약 600Hv의 경도값이 측정되었고, 공정 시간이 늘어남에 따라 화합물층 및 경화깊이가 증가되고 표면 화합물이 성장하여 porous가 감소하는 것을 확인 할 수 있다. 경화깊이는 1440분 일 때 약 0.5mm 경화 깊이를 얻었고, 화합물층의 성장은 ${\varepsilon}$상(Fe2-3N)과 ${\gamma}$'상(Fe4N)으로 두 개의 상으로 형성되는 것을 관찰할 수 있었다. 시험 결과를 바탕으로 S45C 소재의 탄소 함량에 따른 lehrer diagram을 열역학 적으로 계산하고 화합물층의 형성 기구에 대해 비교 분석하였다.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2019

The size and prospects of the domestic semiconductor equipment market are increasing every year. In the case of various parts used inside semiconductor equipments, high durability such as high strength and abrasion resistance is demanded. Particularly, the gases used in semiconductor production processes are toxic. In order to prevent such toxic gas leakage, a precision processing technique and a surface treatment technique for preventing corrosion are required. Electro-polishing is an electro-chemical method of polishing a metal surface to make it smooth and polished. Electro-polishing is mainly used in the finishing process of metal surface. Unlike mechanical polishing, electro-polishing is used in many fields, such as fine chemical etching equipment, since no damaged layer or burr, fine polishing groove and particles are generated. However, in order to withstand the gas used in the semiconductor equipment, the parts must have high corrosion resistance. However, the surface hardness generally become lowered through electro-polishing. Therefore, in this study, surface hardness were experimentally observed before and after electro-polishing. Then, a method of improving hardness by preparing a nitrided layer by plasma ion nitriding treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.261-270
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• 1996

Boriding is one of the chemical methods to achieve the case hardening of steel as well as nitriding or carburizing. The surface layer of the borided steel shows higher hardness and exhibits better resistance to corrosion or fatigue than the nitrided or carburized steel. The great majority of previous studies were confined to mild steel or some alloy steel. To enlarge the application, ductile cast iron (DCI) as a material for boriding has been tried in this study. Thus, sliding wear test has conducted using a pin-on-disc machine to compare between borided DCI and mild steel in fluidized bed furnace. The results show that the wear resistance of borided DCI is improved. Especially it is more efficient in the case of occurence of the mechanical wear.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 1997

Characteristics of plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing for steam treated sintered steels were studied. Fe-0.8%C powder containing Ni, Cu were sintered at 112$0^{\circ}C$ and steamed at 52$0^{\circ}C$. Temperature of plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing was varied from 50$0^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$. Gas mixture of nitriding was set at $N_2$ : $H_2$ =80:20 (vol.%), but $CH_4gas$ was added 1~2 vol.% for nitrocarburizing. Steam treatment for sintered steels brought not only the formation of oxide layer but also decarburizing near the surface. Decrease in hardness near the surface resulted from the formation of ferrite due to decarburizing. Thus, the low hardness was recovered not with plasma nitriding but with plasma nitrocarburixing. Wear resistance properties of steamed specimens and ni-trocarburized specimens were better than those of nitrided specimens according to the pin-on-disk wear test. On the other hand, the fatigue life of steamed specimen was shorter than that of nitrocaiburized specimen.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.709-715
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• 1990

SiO2 films were nitrided by tungsten-halogen heated rapid thermal annealing in ammonia gas at temperatures of 900-1100\ulcorner for 15-180sec. The nitroxide films were analyzed using Auger electron spectroscopy. MIS caapcitors were fabricated using these films as gate insulators. I-V and C-V characteristics of MIS capacitors were investigated. The AES depth profiles of nitroxide film show that the nitrogen rich layer is, at the early stage of nitridation, formed at the surface of nitroxide film and near the interface between nitroxide and silicon. Nitridation of SiO2 makes the film have a larger effective average refractive index. The thermal nitridation of SiO2 on silicon causes the flatband voltage shift due to the change of the fixed charge density. It is found that the dominant conduction mechanism in nitroxide is Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. Rapid thermal nitridation of 200\ulcornerSiO2 on silicon results in an improvement in the dielectric breakdown electric field.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.240-249
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• 1985

여러 가지 조건하에서 한쪽면만 이온질화 처리된 SCM4 의 평판을 모델로 하여 질화층의 기계적 성질과 잔류응력을 연구하였다. 질화층에서의 재료의 성질은 질소함량분포에 비례하여 변할 것이 라는 가정하에 외팔보의 굽힘과 온도-곡률의 관계를 구하는 이론적 모델을 정립하고 이에 따른 간접적 실험방법을 제시하였다. 질화층 표면에서의 선팽창 계수는 질화되지 않은 코어의 값에 비 해 2내지 12% 증가를 보였고 탄성계수는 50내지 700%증가를 보였다. 질화로 인한 축방향 팽창은 변형도로 약 0.002를 얻었다. 상온에서의 코어의 최대인장 잔류응력은 2내지 25Kg/mm$^{2}$이 며, 질화층표면에서 일어나는 최대압축잔류응력은 질화조건에 따라 50내지 300Kg/mm$^{2}$을 얻었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.291-292
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• 2015

Duplex Stainless Steel의 Plasma Nitriding 처리 시 가스량과 처리온도가 표면 특성에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. $N_2$함량 및 처리 온도가 각각 10%에서 25%로 $400^{\circ}C$에서 $430^{\circ}C$로 증가함에 따라서 질소가 과고용된 S-phase의 두께 및 표면 경도가 증가하였으나, 내부 식성은 $Cr_2N$ 및 $(Fe,Cr)_4N$이 석출하여 감소하였다. 질소를 10%로 고정하고 $CH_4$함량을 증가시키면 1%일 때 S-phase의 두께가 최대가 되며 그이후로 감소하였다. 처리온도 $400^{\circ}C$일 때 질소함량이 10%, $CH_4$ 함량이 5%일 경우 내식성이 모재보다 증가하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2002

Carbon nitride thin films were deposited by reactive sputtering for the hard coating materials on Si wafer and tool steels. When the nitrogen content of carbon nitride film on tool steel is 33.4%, the mean hardness and elastic modulus are 49.34 GPa and 307.2 GPa respectively. The nitrided or carburised surface acts as the diffusion barrier which shows better adhesion of carbon nitride thin film on the steel surface. To prevent nitrogen diffusion from the film, steel substrate can be saturated by nitrogen forming a Fe$_3$N layer. The desirable structure at the surface after carburising is martensite, but sometimes, due to high carbon content an proeutectoid Fe$_3$C structure may form at the grain boundaries, leaving the overall surface brittle and may cause defects.