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Carbonitriding

Home > Services > Heat treatment > Case hardening with subsequent hardening operation > Carbonitriding
  • Services
    • Heat treatment
      • Case hardening with subsequent hardening operation
        • Atmospheric carburising
        • Low pressure carburising (LPC)
        • Boriding
        • Carbonitriding
      • Case hardening without subsequent hardening operation
        • Corr-I-Dur®
        • Plasma nitriding/Ion nitriding
        • Nitrocarburising
        • Gas nitriding
        • Ferritic nitrocarburising
        • Fluidised bed/salt bath nitriding/nitrocarburising
      • Hardening and tempering
        • Neutral hardening
        • Ausbay quenching
        • Austempering
        • Martempering/Marquenching
        • Press quenching
        • Induction hardening
        • Double hardening
        • Tempering
      • Solution and age
        • Solution and age: Aluminium alloys
        • Solution and age: Nickel alloys
        • Precipitation hardening: Stainless steels
      • Specialty Stainless Steel Processes (S3P)
      • Annealing / Normalising
        • Annealing
        • Recrystallisation
        • Normalising
        • Sub-critical annealing / intercritical annealing
        • Soft annealing
      • Ion implantation
      • Stress relieving
    • Metal joining
      • Furnace/vacuum brazing
      • Induction brazing
      • Electron beam welding
      • HIP diffusion bonding
      • Hydrogen brazing
    • Surface technology
      • Plasma spray
      • High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) coating
      • Combustion spraying
      • Vapor phase aluminide (VPA)
      • K-Tech
      • Liquid coatings
      • Anodising
      • Electric arc wire
      • Ceramic coatings
      • Flame spraying
    • Hot isostatic pressing
      • Powdermet® technologies
        • Powdermet® hybrid* with 3D printing
        • Powdermet® 3D printing
        • Powdermet® – Near net shape (NNS)
        • Powdermet® Selective surface net shape (SSNS)
      • Isostatic pressing services
        • Hot isostatic pressing
        • Casting densification
        • HIP cladding
        • HIP brazing
        • Simple shape
      • HIP supporting services
        • Laboratory services for HIP
        • Simulation and analysis

Carbonitriding

Carbonitriding is an austenitic (above A3) case hardening process similar to carburising, with the addition of nitrogen (via NH3 gas), used to increase wear resistance and surface hardness through the creation of a hardened surface layer.

Benefits of Carbonitriding

Carbonitriding is applied primarily to produce a hard and wear resistant case. The diffusion of both carbon and nitrogen increases the hardenability of plain carbon and low alloy steels, and creates a harder case than carburising. The carbonitriding process is particularly suited for clean mass production of small components. Due to the lower temperature required for the carbonitriding, compared to carburising, distortion is reduced. Mild quenching speed reduces the risk of quench cracking.

Application & materials

Austenitic carbonitriding is successfully applied to generally mass produced components, and those of smaller dimensions, where great resistance to wear is required and where the case depth requirements ranges from 0.1 to max 0.75 mm. Typical applications include:

  • gears and shafts
  • pistons
  • rollers and bearings
  • levers in hydraulic, pneumatic and mechanical actuated systems.

Primarily to improve wear resistance and fatigue strength of plain carbon steels.

A wide variety of steels can be carbonitrided from plain carbon steels to mild steels (with reduced aluminium content), low alloy steels with max. 0.25% carbon, free cutting steels, and sintered steel.

Carbonitriding process details

(Austenitic) carbonitriding is a thermochemical treatment involving the incorporation of both carbon and nitrogen into the surface of the component, usually simultaneously. The process is carried out at lower temperatures, and generally for shorter times than carburising, and therefore components are less prone to distortion. The diffused nitrogen has a stabilising effect on austenite and lowers the critical quenching speed and, as a consequence, the hardenability of the steel.

Less severe quenching media like oil, instead of water quenching needed for mild steel, can be applied for reducing distortion.

Carbonitriding is usually carried out in a temperature range of 820-900°C in a gaseous atmosphere adding between 0.5 to 0.8% carbon and 0.2-0.4% (< 5%) nitrogen to the surface of plain carbon steel or low alloy steel. After diffusion time the components are directly quenched in oil. The attained case hardened depth (CHD) is usually not greater than about 0.7 mm and depends not only on carbonitriding depths, but also on the hardening temperature, the quench rate, the hardenability of the steel and the dimensions of the component. The heat treatment is completed by low temperature tempering between 150-200°C for the higher case depth range reducing brittleness and depending on tribological circumstances.

Related Services
Low pressure carburising (LPC)
Boriding
Specialty Stainless Steel Processes (S3P)
Contact us for a quote.

Carbonitriding

Carbonitriding is an austenitic (above A3) case hardening process similar to carburising, with the addition of nitrogen (via NH3 gas), used to increase wear resistance and surface hardness through the creation of a hardened surface layer.

Benefits of Carbonitriding

Carbonitriding is applied primarily to produce a hard and wear resistant case. The diffusion of both carbon and nitrogen increases the hardenability of plain carbon and low alloy steels, and creates a harder case than carburising. The carbonitriding process is particularly suited for clean mass production of small components. Due to the lower temperature required for the carbonitriding, compared to carburising, distortion is reduced. Mild quenching speed reduces the risk of quench cracking.

Application & materials

Austenitic carbonitriding is successfully applied to generally mass produced components, and those of smaller dimensions, where great resistance to wear is required and where the case depth requirements ranges from 0.1 to max 0.75 mm. Typical applications include:

  • gears and shafts
  • pistons
  • rollers and bearings
  • levers in hydraulic, pneumatic and mechanical actuated systems.

Primarily to improve wear resistance and fatigue strength of plain carbon steels.

A wide variety of steels can be carbonitrided from plain carbon steels to mild steels (with reduced aluminium content), low alloy steels with max. 0.25% carbon, free cutting steels, and sintered steel.

Carbonitriding process details

(Austenitic) carbonitriding is a thermochemical treatment involving the incorporation of both carbon and nitrogen into the surface of the component, usually simultaneously. The process is carried out at lower temperatures, and generally for shorter times than carburising, and therefore components are less prone to distortion. The diffused nitrogen has a stabilising effect on austenite and lowers the critical quenching speed and, as a consequence, the hardenability of the steel.

Less severe quenching media like oil, instead of water quenching needed for mild steel, can be applied for reducing distortion.

Carbonitriding is usually carried out in a temperature range of 820-900°C in a gaseous atmosphere adding between 0.5 to 0.8% carbon and 0.2-0.4% (< 5%) nitrogen to the surface of plain carbon steel or low alloy steel. After diffusion time the components are directly quenched in oil. The attained case hardened depth (CHD) is usually not greater than about 0.7 mm and depends not only on carbonitriding depths, but also on the hardening temperature, the quench rate, the hardenability of the steel and the dimensions of the component. The heat treatment is completed by low temperature tempering between 150-200°C for the higher case depth range reducing brittleness and depending on tribological circumstances.

Related Services
Low pressure carburising (LPC)
Boriding
Specialty Stainless Steel Processes (S3P)
Contact us for a quote.
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  • Home
  • Careers
    ▼
    • Opportunities (Europe & Asia)
    • Opportunities (North America)
  • Services
    ▼
    • Heat treatment
      ▼
      • Case hardening with subsequent hardening operation
        ▼
        • Atmospheric carburising
        • Low pressure carburising (LPC)
        • Boriding
        • Carbonitriding
      • Case hardening without subsequent hardening operation
        ▼
        • Corr-I-Dur®
        • Plasma nitriding/Ion nitriding
        • Nitrocarburising
        • Gas nitriding
        • Ferritic nitrocarburising
        • Fluidised bed/salt bath nitriding/nitrocarburising
      • Hardening and tempering
        ▼
        • Neutral hardening
        • Ausbay quenching
        • Austempering
        • Martempering/Marquenching
        • Press quenching
        • Induction hardening
        • Double hardening
        • Tempering
      • Solution and age
        ▼
        • Solution and age: Aluminium alloys
        • Solution and age: Nickel alloys
        • Precipitation hardening: Stainless steels
      • Specialty Stainless Steel Processes (S3P)
      • Annealing / Normalising
        ▼
        • Annealing
        • Recrystallisation
        • Normalising
        • Sub-critical annealing / intercritical annealing
        • Soft annealing
      • Ion implantation
      • Stress relieving
    • Metal joining
      ▼
      • Furnace/vacuum brazing
      • Induction brazing
      • Electron beam welding
      • HIP diffusion bonding
      • Hydrogen brazing
    • Surface technology
      ▼
      • Plasma spray
      • High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) coating
      • Combustion spraying
      • Vapor phase aluminide (VPA)
      • K-Tech
      • Liquid coatings
      • Anodising
      • Electric arc wire
      • Ceramic coatings
      • Flame spraying
    • Hot isostatic pressing
      ▼
      • Powdermet® technologies
        ▼
        • Powdermet® hybrid* with 3D printing
        • Powdermet® 3D printing
        • Powdermet® – Near net shape (NNS)
        • Powdermet® Selective surface net shape (SSNS)
      • Isostatic pressing services
        ▼
        • Casting densification
        • HIP cladding
        • HIP brazing
        • Simple shape
      • HIP supporting services
        ▼
        • Simulation and analysis
        • Laboratory services for HIP
  • Markets
    ▼
    • Automotive
      ▼
      • Car / Light truck
      • Heavy trucks
      • Motorbikes
      • Motorsports
    • Aerospace & defense
      ▼
      • Commercial jet
      • Military fighter
      • Helicopter
      • Armoury and munitions
      • Space
    • Energy
      ▼
      • Stationary turbines
      • Nuclear
      • Oil and gas
      • Renewables
    • General industrial
      ▼
      • Tooling
      • Agriculture and forestry
      • Construction and civil engineering
      • Mining
      • Rail and marine
      • Consumer products
      • Electronics and telecommunications
      • Medical, health and environmental
      • Food and beverage
      • Chemical and paper
      • Machine building
  • News and media
    ▼
    • Press releases
    • Downloads
    • Multimedia resources
      ▼
      • Images
    • Media contact
    • More news
    • History Of Metallurgy
  • Corporate responsibility
    ▼
    • Our approach
    • Environment
    • Our policies
    • Safety
    • Society
    • Workplace
    • Gender pay gap
  • Investors
    ▼
    • Our values
    • Our strategy
    • Our performance
    • Our business
      ▼
      • Key facts
      • What we do
      • Our marketplace
      • Business segments
        ▼
        • The ADE Divisions
        • The AGI divisions
      • Thermal processing sector overview
    • Governance
      ▼
      • Governance structure
      • Leadership
      • Internal control and risk management
      • Open door policy
      • Our policies
      • Where we operate
    • Our board
    • Reports and results
    • Financial information
      ▼
      • Five year summary
      • Group income statement
      • Balance sheet
      • Cash flow
    • Share price and dividend information
      ▼
      • Detailed share price
      • Dividend history
      • Charting tools
        ▼
        • Share price chart
        • Shareholder returns
      • Historic calculator and look-up
      • Share price download
    • Regulatory announcements
    • Financial calendar
    • Investor presentations
    • Shareholder information
      ▼
      • Dividend information
      • Shareholder forms
      • AGM details
      • Electronic proxy voting
      • Share dealing
      • Major shareholders
    • Investor and shareholder contacts
    • Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
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