Piston ring

摘要

A piston ring is made of martensitic stainless steel. Except for the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring, a nitrided layer having a Vickers hardness of 700 or more is formed on the upper and lower surfaces and inner circumferential surface, and a nitrided layer having a Vickers hardness of less than 700 is formed below the nitrided layer. A hard film is then formed by ion plating only on the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring. The hard film formed by ion plating and the nitrided layer with a Vickers hardness of 700 or more are separated without making contact in the vicinity of at least one of corner sections formed by the upper and lower surfaces and outer circumferential surface. The distance is within a range of 0.001 to 0.3 mm. The nitrided layers can be formed just on the upper and lower surfaces of the piston ring.