Friction-Stir Nitriding of Titanium Alloy Surface Layer

Surface nitriding of Ti-6Al-V alloy was realized via a friction-stir nitriding (FSN) method, on the basis of the already proposed friction-stir processing (FSP) technique. The friction-stir behaviors of the tool provided a severe plastic deformation, surface activations and heating histories of Ti-alloy under the introduced nitrogen atmosphere, which benefited the rapid and dramatic Ti-N reaction. The microstructure characteristics, micro-hardness and wear performance evaluations of the nitriding layer fabricated by FSN on Ti-6Al-V alloy were elucidated in the paper.