Double glow plasma surface alloying was applied to prepare chromizing layer in the surface of AISI440B stainless steel. Prior to chromizing, the stainless steel was etched by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition to change the surface morphology and composition, and then heated for chromizing at 950 degrees C for 3h. The cyclical oxidation of steel after chromizing was carried out at 900 degrees C for 100h. Scanning electron microscopy, glow discharge optical emission spectrometer and X-ray diffractometer were used to characterize microstructure, composition and phase structure of alloyed and oxidized samples. The results show that the surface was composed of the Cr-rich top layer and Cr23C6 , Cr7C3 and {Cr,Fe}(7)C-3 below layer after chromizing. The bonding between the chromizing layer and the substrate after etching treatment was obviously strengthened. AISI440B steel shows a poor oxidation resistance and the weight gain oxidized for 100 h was up to 31.1 mg/cm(2) . Weight gains for chromizing and etching + chromizing treated samples were 0.67 mg/cm(2) and 8 mg/cm(2) , respectively. Both oxidized surfaces of chromizing and etching + chromizing were composed of Cr2O3 , but the oxide scale of etching + chromizing treated samples was more compact than that of samples without etching. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.