Enhancement of wear and erosion-corrosion resistance of Inconel 718 alloy by liquid nitriding

Abstract

Inconel 718 alloy is often used for the oil and gas industry, which usually failed due to the erosion-corrosion of multi-phase flow. In this study, we expect to enhance the wear and erosion-corrosion resistance of Inconel 718 alloy by liquid nitriding and a high-hardness nitrided layer with the thickness of about 9.5 μm on the surface of Inconel 718 alloy was formed by liquid nitriding. Wear and erosion-corrosion tests were performed on untreated and nitrided Inconel 718 alloys. Results show that abrasive wear and adhesive wear occurred in both nitrided and untreated samples at different temperatures (25 °C, 100 °C and 200 °C). The width and depth of the wear track and the wear rate of the nitrided samples are all smaller than that of the untreated samples. Liquid nitriding significantly improves the wear resistance of Inconel 718 alloy because of the high-hardness nitrided layer. The nitrided Inconel 718 alloy exhibited an improvement of almost 80.3% in the erosion-corrosion resistance compared to their untreated counterparts. The weight loss rate of the erosion-only shows an obvious reduction after liquid nitriding. The surface nitrided layer with high hardness effectively protects the substrate, and prevents the material from the erosion-corrosion of multi-phase flow consisting of the SiO2 particles and the acidic solution, so that the total weight loss of nitrided Inconel 718 alloy decreased evidently.

Effect of plasma nitriding process on the fatigue and high temperature corrosion resistance of Inconel 740H nickel alloy

“…It may prove the higher effectiveness of the plasma nitriding over cathode one. Similar response was reported by Xue et al [26].…”

“…The positive effect of nitriding on the corrosion resistance of nickel-based alloys was also indicated in the literature. Xue et al [26] reported a significant improvement in the erosion-corrosion resistance (almost 80.3%) if compared to the as-received Inconel 718. Such improvement was associated to the chromium nitride found on the surface.…”

“…It should be also mentioned, that the nitriding process produces a diffusion layer of 10-100 μm thick in which the nitrogen atoms occupy interstitial sites in the crystalline lattice of the substrate material, and subsequently, results on development of the lattice expansion effect. Such expansion leads to the compressive stresses generation that are responsible for a superior toughness and wear resistance properties [26]. The hardness gradually decreased to 400 HV0.05 towards the substrate material.…”

Influence of Overlap on Surface Quality in the Laser Polishing of 3D Printed Inconel 718 under the Effect of Air and Argon

“…Xue et al showed that the nitrided layer achieves a hardness that is several times higher than that of Inconel (1800 HV0.01 and about 400 HV, respectively). Moreover, the results presented by Authors, prove that the nitrided layer strongly improves abrasive wear resistance [ 57 ]. Based on that, it is expected that the oxide layer formed in this study might have a beneficial effect on increased hardness and wear resistance, which is promising course for future studies.…”

“…The ceramic layer on the surface of Inconel 718 can have a very beneficial effect on hardness and wear resistance due to its properties. An example can be the nitrided layer on the IN718 surface [57,58]. Xue et al showed that the nitrided layer achieves a hardness The formation of the oxide layer might have significant influence on the mechanical as well as the tribological performance due to the current knowledge.…”