Patent ID: 8298724

Claim:
A transition metal nitride obtained by nitriding a base material including an austenitic stainless steel, the transition metal nitride comprising: a first layer formed continuously on a base layer formed by the base material, having a laminated crystal structure of a nitride having a cubic crystal structure of M 4 N type, and a nitride having a hexagonal crystal structure of M 2-3 N type; and a second layer formed continuously on the first layer, including a nitride having at least one kind of crystal structure out of hexagonal crystal structures of Cr 2 N, CrN, and M 2-3 N type, wherein M is a transition metal atom selected from the group consisting of Fe, Cr, Ni, and Mo, and a cubic crystal structure of M 4 N type, and the second layer being formed as a surface-nitriding-processed portion of the base material continuously in a depth direction from a surface of the base material.