Effect of gas mixture on tribological performance of plasma nitrided grey cast iron under dry and lubricated conditions

Grey cast iron is commonly utilized as an engineering material owing to its some properties such as its good machinability, ability to dampen vibrations, low-stress concentration, high thermal conductivity, good castability and low cost. Especially when this material is used as camshaft material, it can be exposed to wear because of its low wear properties. So, various surface treatment is applied to improve tribological properties of the grey cast iron. In this study, the grey cast irons were plasma nitrided under different gas mixture ratios for this aim. The structural, morphological and mechanical properties of plasma nitrided grey cast iron specimens were investigated by XRD, SEM, EDS and microhardness test. Also, tribological properties of unnitrided and nitrided specimens were characterized by tribotester under dry and lubricated conditions. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd.