Plasma Nitriding

There is a very major difference between salt bath nitriding and plasma nitriding. In salt bath nitriding, the component(s) are placed in a molten salt bath and the entire component it heated to get a hard nitride layer on the surface. In plasma nitriding the nitride ion is bombarded on the component at much lower temperature to achieve the same end. The component is not heated to the same extent. The hardening is more uniform and the depth can be controlled to much better accuracies. The equipment is exponentially expensive and since the coating is done in a vacuum chamber, you cannot do it on all components economically. Typically, this is done by job coaters only since a single industrial entity is not able to justify the investment for in-house production.

Gurvin Singh Coatec India - Mohali, Punjab, India

Hi Gurvin,

As a person intimately associated with development of plasma nitriding process and its varied applications for the past 20 years, I must beg to differ.

More and more companies are looking at having their own plasma nitriding systems to cut down on time wasted in sending, processing, receiving their tools, toolings and components. It is likely that this trend may see ten to twelve nitriders installed in-house by leading companies before we ring out this year...

It is heartening to see many drawings now having " to be plasma nitrided" instructions stamped on them. A huge wave of adoption seems to have got activated by the auto ancillary industries.

Tks for explaining the process so well in brief.

Cheers!