Improvement of the corrosion property of Cr4Mo4V bearing steel using plasma immersion ion implantation

Abstract The working conditions of aerospace bearings such as engine bearings are quite harsh and prolonging the life span of these components is thus very important to the aerospace industry. Previous results have shown that the main failure mechanism of aerospace bearings is corrosion, and enhancing their corrosion resistance is a key. Cr4Mo4V, which is equivalent to AISI M50 bearing steel, is usually used in aerospace bearings in China. In this study, Cr4Mo4V components are treated in a new generation plasma immersion ion implanter in which ion implantation and sputter deposition can be carried out in the same chamber without breaking vacuum. Three treatment processes involving Cr, Mo, and N are evaluated. Our test results indicate that Cr is the main element enhancing the corrosion resistance and the addition of nitrogen improves the properties further. The non line-of-sight advantage of PIII is important to the processing of complex-shaped samples such as engine bearings.