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To improve the surface properties of austenitic stainless steels, a thick S-phase layer was prepared by using a novel critical temperature nitriding (CTN) process. The properties of the thick S-phase layer were optimized by controlling the process parameters. The microstructures and phase compositions of CTN-treated layers were characterized by the optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction, respectively. The surface properties, including corrosion and wear resistance, were systematically investigated by the electrochemical workstation, micro-hardness tester and ball-on-disk tribometer, respectively. The results showed that a thick S-phase layer with a thickness of 18 to 25 μm can be fabricated in a short time by critical temperature nitriding, which represented higher efficiency than conventional low-temperature nitriding. Although the most top surfaces of CTN-treated layers contain massive iron nitrides, there are no precipitates in the inner nitrided layer. The electronic work function calculated by first-principles method has confirmed that those iron nitrides had a slight influence on the corrosion resistance of nitrided layers. The optimized CTN-treated layer exhibited a comparable corrosion resistance and wear resistance as the low-temperature nitrided layer. The CTN process is considered a potentially highly efficient surface modification method for austenitic stainless steels.
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