The fatigue life and fractures of austenitic steel AISI 304 after the chemical-thermal treatment

The service life of components is related to surface abrasion, corrosion effects, as well as the occurrence of fatigue cracks. These effects begin to spread from the surface of the components and therefore it is very important to properly influence the mechanical properties of the materials to increase the service life. In chemical-thermal treatment, the resistance of the surface layer is increased by saturating the surface of the components with suitably selected chemical elements. This affects the change in structure and mechanical properties.