Study on the Fast Nitriding Process of Active Screen Plasma Nitriding

A new nitriding technology using active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) was carried out in order to increase the nitriding speed of AISI 5140 steel. The fast nitriding process is based upon the different solubility and diffuse rate of nitrogen atoms in austenite and in ferrite of steel respectively. First, the nitriding samples were heated above the eutectoid temperature for a few minutes to dissolve a large amount of nitrogen and form a nitrogen-rich layer on the surface of the nitrided samples. Then, the nitriding temperature was decreased below the eutectoid temperature and kept the temperature for a long time to make the dissolved nitrogen in the nitrogen-rich layer diffuse into ferrite. The two different nitriding processes were carried on alternately. Experimental results indicate that the fast nitriding process not only enhances the nitriding speed remarkably, but also keeps the high hardness of the nitrided layer. The new fast nitriding technology with nitrogen-rich layer can be explained with “absorption- diffusion” model.