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History of Ion Nitriding
The history of ion nitriding dates back to its birth in 1932. A German physicist, Dr. Wehnheldt, was the first to develop ion nitriding; however, he was unable to control the glow discharge. By teaming up with the Swiss physicist, Dr. Bernhard Berghaus, they were able to develop ion nitriding into a usable, stabilized process. After WWII, electronics, plus the need for more superior metallurgical properties, contributed to increased popularity of ion nitriding among American industrialists. Dr. Claude Jones, Dr. Derek Sturges, and Stuart Martin helped advance ion nitriding in America by applying the process to a variety of parts as well as building the first ion nitrider in the U.S. As success stories filtered through American industry during the 1980’s, ion nitriding became a respected, preferred process for many manufacturers. Today, ion nitriding remains a favored heat treating process, and it continues to develop as the industry pushes for even more efficient, economical and environmentally safe heat treating process.
When and Why Ion Nitriding/Nitrocarburizing Makes Good Sense
When and Why Ion Nitriding/Nitrocarburizing Makes Good Sense
Advanced Heat Treat staff Dr. Edward Roliński and Gary Sharp authored this article from Industrial Heating magazine, August 11, 2005:
Ion, or plasma, nitriding has been studied and used industrially for more than 40 years [1-8], but the technology has not been used to its full potential. Ion nitriding/nitrocarburizing is a low temperature (800-1100˚F, or 430-595˚C) process, which results in little or no distortion of the treated parts even if significant residual compressive stress is induced to the surface layer of the treated products. The ion nitriding process also has been referred to by other surface treating characteristics including plasma, vacuum, diffusion, low nitriding potential, passive surfaces activating, easy-to-control structure and pollution-free processes. These process characteristics with the exception of the low nitriding potential concept are discussed in the literature.”
Click here to read the entire article:
http://www.industrialheating.com/Articles/Feature_Article/f022e50797cb7010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0
Learn more about the authors here www.ahtweb.com
Conventional Heat Treatments
Case Depth Terms
When applying a heat treatment, such as ion nitriding, to a part, it is important to know the following case depth terms:
Effective Case Depth (ECD):
The distance from the surface of a hardened case where a specified level of hardness is maintained (typically 50 HRC eqv.).
Total Case Depth (TCD):
The distance from the surface of a hardened case to a point where differences in physical properties of the case and core are no longer distinguished (visual or hardness method).
For example:
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