Modeling the Carbonitriding of Steel

In the carbonitriding process, both carbon and nitrogen are diffused into the steel, can be carried out in a salt bath or in a furnace gas atmosphere. It is a modified carburizing process but is mostly done at a slightly lower temperature and for shorter time than carburizing. This process is one of the widely used heat treatments for surface hardening. Nonetheless, there are challenges associated with the process performance and reliability. In industry, numerical modeling can be an efficient approach with lower cost and less time to help determine and optimize process parameters.