The effect of nitrogen gas flow rate on heat treatment of AISI SS-430: Study of microstructure and hardness

The aim of this research was to obtain the austenite phase from ferritic stainless steel through sample heat treatment. The AISI 430 ferritic steel with the thickness of about 0.4 mm was used. The heat treatment was conducted in a tube furnace at elevated temperature of 1150, 1200, 1250 °C and nitrogen gas flow rate of 0.57 and 0.73 l/s. The samples were then rapidly quenched in water bath. An optical microscope, XRD, SEM-EDS and micro vickers hardness tester were used to characterize the sample before and after het treatment. The presence of anneal twins indicated the formation of austenite phase in the sample. Its fraction was varied from 10.89 wt% to 35.10 wt%. In addition, the heat treatment temperature strongly affected the sample hardness. The optimum hardness obtained was about 542.69 HV. According to the results, this material can be considered for biomedical applications.