Nitriding

Nitriding is a special form of surface treatment that is used in the metalworking industry. The process of nitriding involves the reaction of nitrogen with the surface of a workpiece, usually made of steel or cast iron, to create a nitrided layer. This layer significantly improves the mechanical and tribological properties of the material.

During the nitriding process, the workpiece is kept in a nitrogen atmosphere at an elevated temperature. The nitrogen diffuses into the surface of the workpiece and forms a hard nitrided layer. This layer consists mainly of nitrides, such as iron nitride or chromium nitride, and exhibits increased hardness and resistance to wear.

The advantages of nitrided coatings lie in the improved hardness, increased fatigue strength and increased corrosion resistance of the treated workpieces. This makes nitrided coatings particularly attractive for applications involving high mechanical loads, abrasive stresses or aggressive environments, as is the case in the automotive industry, tool manufacture or for machine components, for example. Another positive effect of nitriding is the minimal change in the dimensional accuracy of the workpieces during the process. Compared to other heat treatment processes, the deformation remains minimal, which is very important for applications with tight tolerances.

Overall, nitriding helps to increase the performance of metallic workpieces and extend their service life under demanding conditions, making it an important technology in the modern metalworking industry.