ISSN 3041-1815. Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials. 2026.
Volume 62, Issue 4
Specific features of the 25KhGNMT structural steel surface after treatment with pulse barrier discharge
Lobanov L. M. 
E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine. (https://ror.org/01gxrtw55)
Pashchyn M. O.
E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine. (https://ror.org/01gxrtw55)
Berdnikova O. М.
E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine (https://ror.org/01gxrtw55)
Kushnarova О. S.
E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine. (https://ror.org01gxrtw55)
Bereka V. O.
Institute of Electrodynamics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine (https://ror.org/010c2f249)
Mikhodui O. L.
E. O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine. (https://ror.org/01gxrtw55)
Keywords
structural steel, pulsed barrier discharge, structural composition, substructure, dislocation density, strengthening, local internal stresses.
Cite as
Lobanov L. M., Pashchyn M. O., Berdnikova O. М., Kushnarova О. S., Bereka V. O., and Mikhodui O. L. Specific features of the 25KhGNMT structural steel surface after treatment with pulse barrier discharge. Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials. 2026. 62(4), 5-14.
Abstract
The use of electrophysical processing methods for metal materials to improve the mechanical properties of metal and alloy products is a promising direction for the development of surface strengthening processes. The use of pulsed barrier discharge (PBD), which generates low-temperature plasma on the metal surface during processing is a new approach in metalworking. The effect of PBD on structural changes at the dislocation level and their influence on the physicomechanical properties of 25KhGNMT steel after its surface treatment is studied. The features of the structure formed in the surface layers of the treated metal are analyzed. The research shows that, compared to untreated metal, noticeable structural and phase changes are observed in the surface treated with PBD up to a thickness of 2200 μm: the formation of a martensite-bainite structure with an increase in the volume fraction of lower bainite; fragmentation of rail structural components; formation of a substructure with a generally uniform distribution of dislocation density and the absence of local internal stress concentrators. This provides surface strengthening and crack-growth resistance of structural steel.