Plasma nitriding of welded joint of the SAF 2507 super duplex stainless steel

ABSTRACT Superduplex stainless steels (SDSS) present in their microstructure the ferrite and austenite phases, in order to reconcile good mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion. These materials are widely used in the petroleum extraction and petrochemical industries. When subjected to these applications, the SDSS ducts are worn. Among the types, we can mention the coming from the friction of cables that take tools into the wells. Taking into account the welding of superduplex steels, the susceptibility to wear and corrosion may increase. Solder energy values above 1.5 KJ / mm cause phase imbalance, damaging the mentioned properties. The HAZ (heat affected zone) of welding of these steels is the region most susceptible to degradation and embrittlement due to the growth of the ferritic grain and possible emergence of deleterious precipitates. In this context, this work has as one of the objectives to nitrate the brazed joint of the SAF 2507 steel and to correlate the microstructure with the surface hardness. To achieve the results, samples of welded joint were nitrided to plasma using conventional (CN) and cathodic cage (CCN) techniques at a temperature of 400 °C. As a result, the nitrided samples with the cathodic cage showed larger and more uniform values of microhardness.