Y. Tsunekawa, M. Okumiya, A. Baba, Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Japan
Summary: Electron beam excited plasma (EBEP) is characterized by extremely high concentration of nitrogen atoms which is suitable for rapid surface nitriding. An aluminum alloy substrate was nitrided with the mixed nitrogen and argon plasma with high sputtering efficiency. With the EBEP nitriding, surface nitrided layer of AlN with 105 mm in thickness is rapidly formed after period of 5.4 ks, which hardness is approximately HV1300.