Abstract: A number of studies have been reported on the use of nanocrystalline plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising technology for surface hardening of stainless steels for higher corrosion resistance resulted from this technique. However, very few studies have focused on the optimization of the nanocrystalline plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising process parameters. In this study, a design of experiment (DOE) technique, the Taguchi method, has been used to optimize the nanocrystalline plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising not only for surface hardening but also for the corrosion protection of 316L austenitic stainless steel by controlling the coating process's factors. The experimental design consisted of four factors (Urea concentration, electrical conductivity of electrolyte, voltage and duration of process), each containing three levels. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements were carried out to determine the corrosion resistance of the coated samples. The results were analyzed with related software. An analysis of the mean of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio indicated that the corrosion resistance of nanocrystalline plasma electrolytic nitrocarburised 316L stainless steel was influenced significantly by the levels in the Taguchi orthogonal array. The optimized coating parameters for corrosion resistance are 1150 g/L for urea concentration, 360 mS/cm for electrical conductivity of electrolyte, 260 V for applied voltage, 6 min for treatment time. The percentage of contribution for each factor was determined by the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the applied voltage is the most significant factor affecting the corrosion resistance of the coatings.

Key words: Nanocrystalline plasma electrolytic nitrocarburising, 316L austenitic stainless steel...