Thursday, November 08, 2018

 

Nitriding is a heat-treating process that’s often used on steel to make it significantly stronger. It’s done by heating a piece of steel up in a furnace and then injecting ammonia into the mix, which results in nitrogen atoms dissolving over the surface of the steel and hardening it. Nitriding was first discovered on accident way back in the early 1900s, but today, it’s a very popular way to make steel auto parts, tools, gun barrels, and tougher. Here are some of the benefits of nitriding steel.

Helps you to strengthen steel without distorting it

There are other heat-treating processes other than nitriding that will help you to strengthen steel; however, many of those processes will result in distortion within the steel. Nitriding is one of the only processes that will make steel stronger without distorting it in any way. You can carry nitriding out without turning the temperature up in a furnace too high, which results in less distortion that you might experience otherwise.

Allows you to achieve the ideal case depth

One of the other big benefits of using nitriding in this day and age is that modern nitriding equipment makes it possible for you to inject a precise amount of ammonia into the equation. That allows for you to achieve the ideal case depth on the outer layer on your steel. You can adjust the case depth by tinkering with how much ammonia you use.

Makes steel parts last longer

Steel parts that go through the nitriding process are stronger and more durable than parts that don’t. They won’t be subjected to surface cracks that might otherwise cause them to fall apart sooner than they should. You’ll feel more confident using steel parts once they’ve gone through the nitriding process.

Want to find out more about nitriding and how it works? Nitriding isone of the many value added services available through Lowrance Machine Shop. Call us at 281-449-6524 today for more information on nitriding steel.