Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Temperature dependence of the nitrogen diffusion coefficient in the expanded austenite γN of single crystalline austenitic stainless steel (ASS) during ion beam nitriding is investigated. Single crystalline [orientations (001), (110) and (111)] AISI 316L ASS samples have been ion beam nitrided in the temperature range of 370-430 °C for 60 min with an ion acceleration voltage of 1 keV and a current density of 0.5 mA cm−2. The N depth distribution profiles have been determined by means of nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), while the N diffusion coefficients D have been extracted by fitting the NRA profiles with the “trapping-detrapping” model. The results show that the nitrogen diffusivity strongly depends on the single crystal orientation in the sequence D001>D011>D111. These differences are not related to the activation energy which is similar for all three orientations, but to the diffusion coefficient exponential pre-factor D0 whose value varies by 3 orders of magnitude depending on the orientation. The results are discussed on the basis of ion irradiation effects such as defects and vibrational lattice excitations.