  In the long history of science and technology development, one goal is to
diffuse solid alloy elements into the surface of steel materials to form
surface alloys with excellent physical and chemical properties. On the basis of
plasma nitriding technology, double glow plasma surface metallurgy technology
has answered this challenge. This technology, which seems to be a modern-day
alchemy, can use any element in the periodic table of chemical elements,
including solid metal elements and their combinations, to form many types of
surface alloyed layers with high hardness, wear resistance, corrosion
resistance and high temperature oxidation resistance on various metal
materials. For examples, nickel base alloys, stainless steels and high speed
steels are formed on the surfaces of ordinary carbon steels; and high hardness,
wear resistance and high temperature oxidation resistance alloy are formed on
the surface of titanium alloy.This article briefly introduces the formation and
principle of double glow plasma surface metallurgy technology, and summarizes
the experimental results and industry application. The significance and
development prospect of this technology are discussed.
