Benefits of the Nitriding process

PROCESS OVERVIEW - Benefits of the Nitride Hardening Process

Nitride Hardening is a means of imparting very high surface hardness to steel components. There are, of course, other processes which offer this but nitride hardening offers certain crucial advantages:

Low process temperature - Around 495º to 535º celsius
Lack of shock-inducing "quench" at cycle end - Nitride hardening utilises a slow, controlled heating and cooling rate at cycle end
The whole process takes place under a protective atmosphere, giving the finished product a clean, oxide-free finish

In combination these features confer great advantages to the manufacturer requiring wear resistance whilst maintaining component form and dimensional accuracy. In fact, many types of component can only be hardened by the nitriding process due to their complex or slender forms. For example, racing car crankshafts, extrusion screws for plastics manufacture, forming dies, etc. (See picture)

A completed load - prior to dismantling