Investigation on high-temperature oxidization of mirror-quality ground stainless steel

To investigate the possibility of developing a new surface modification method by the combined process of ELID grinding and high-temperature oxidization, we treated ELID finished specimens and polished specimens by high-temperature oxidization in the atmosphere and performed detailed analysis to determine how the treatment would change the specimen surfaces. The ELID-series showed high quality surface roughness and excellent tribological characteristics as compared with the polished-series. The improved surface properties of the ELID-series seem to result from formation of fine, uniform structures of spinel-type multiple oxides FeCr₂O₄ and Cr₂O₃ on the surface by high-temperature oxidization.