Ferritic nitrocarburizing accomplishes surface treatment of a part in the ferrite region of the iron-carbon equilibrium diagram. This chapter presents the history and process benefits of ferritic nitrocarburizing.

This chapter provides a detailed discussion of salt bath nitrocarburizing. Process variations discussed include low-cyanide salt bath ferritic nitrocarburizing, salt bath nitrocarburizing plus post treatment, and the Kolene Nu-Tride process.

Gaseous ferritic nitrocarburizing, like salt bath nitrocarburizing, involves the introduction of carbon and nitrogen into steel in order to produce a thin layer of iron carbonitride and nitrides, the "white layer" or compound layer, with an underlying diffusion zone containing dissolved nitrogen and iron (or alloy) nitrides. This chapter first presents the development and principles of the process. It then discusses the properties of gaseous ferritic nitrocarburized components. The chapter also presents the applications for the ferritic nitrocarburizing process. It provides an overview of the safety considerations.

This chapter discusses equipment used for ferritic nitrocarburizing, including salt bath furnaces, atmosphere furnaces, and plasma furnaces. It also describes the processes involved in ferritic oxynitrocarburizing.

Surface cleanliness requirements depend on which nitrocarburizing process is selected for component treatment. This chapter discusses the processes involved in some of the more commonly used precleaning methods for gas ferritic nitrocarburizing and provides information on the methods used to accomplish enhanced plasma cleaning.

This chapter describes processes for evaluation of nitrided parts, including case depth and case hardness, and discusses the factors contributing to corrosion and distortion of parts after ferritic nitrocarburizing.

The design requirements for mechanical shafts, pinions, and gears often call for features with very hard surfaces (to resist wear) based on a softer core (to avoid brittle fracture). This chapter explains how to selectively harden steel by diffusing carbon and nitrogen atoms into the outer surface layers. It discusses several such surface-hardening processes, including carburizing, nitriding, carbonitriding, and nitrocarburizing.