Rapid formation of titanium nitride coating by atmospheric-controlled induction-heating fine particle peening and investigation of its wear and corrosion resistance

To create a coating of titanium nitride, atmospheric-controlled induction-heating fine particle peening using fine particles of pure titanium was conducted for low-alloy steel in a nitrogen atmosphere, and the surface characteristics of the treated specimens were investigated. The formation of hard titanium nitride coatings with a thickness of 100–200 μm was achieved by peening at 1373 K for 10 s and subsequent heating at 1373 K for 120 s. Titanium particles adhered to the treated surfaces during peening at the high temperature, which reacted with nitrogen in the atmosphere during the heating after peening. Ball-on-disk wear tests were conducted to examine the wear resistance of the specimens, and it was found that the created coating by AIH-FPP improved the wear resistance of low-alloy steel owing to its high hardness. The improvement was more significant at high testing temperatures because the high testing temperature and frictional heat caused oxygen in the air to react with titanium in the coating during the wear test. Immersion of the specimens into sodium chloride solution was also conducted to investigate the corrosion resistance, which revealed that the coating created improved corrosion resistance of low-alloy steel.