Abstract
In this paper, a numerical and experimental study of the nitrogen concentration profile in the precipitation layer of gaseous nitrided 16MnCr5 alloy steel was performed. The gaseous nitriding was performed in ammonia atmosphere at 510, 550 and 590°C, and for each temperature four different nitriding times were chosen. Nitrogen concentration profile of the nitrided specimens was experimentally investigated with electron probe microanalysis and modeled with finite element method through ANSYS finite-element software package. The model was coded in ANSYS Parametric Design Language, and the validity of the model was demonstrated by comparison with experimental data. The accuracy of the proposed model makes it a valuable tool in complementing the experimental investigations on gaseous nitriding of 16MnCr5 and similar alloy steels.
Key words: Finite element method, nitrogen profile, 16MnCr5, ANSYS, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA).
