Description in English
The project is directed to study fatigue behaviour of advanced structural materials (316L austenitic stainless steel and austempered ductile cast iron) surface treated with low temperature plasma nitriding. The proposal includes the study of the surfacetreatment on cyclic plastic strain localisation, crack initiation and short crack growth mechanism and kinetics. Fatigue life will be obtained both in low and high cycle region. Experimental data and quantitative assessment concerning the modification ofkinetic parameters of short crack growth in plasma nitrided specimens will help to understand the fatigue life of surface treated materials and will improve the prediction procedures of fatigue crack evolution in nitrided machine parts. Fatigue life data of nitrided austempered ductile iron will be of importance for application of the material in dynamically strained components (e.g. crankshafts of Diesel engines). The contribution in the field of nitriding technology will consist in the knowledge of