English processes industries people & culture news locations & contact Carbonitriding Aalberts surface technologies > processes > Carbonitriding what is carbonitriding? the process fields of application groundbreaking industries locations & contact what is carbonitriding? Carbonitriding is a thermo-chemical process. Within the framework of this process, the surface layer of components is enriched with carbon and nitrogen, in order to improve the mechanical properties of the component surface layer. For this process, there are various furnace technologies, such as chamber furnaces and continuous furnaces. the process As a rule, carbonitriding comprises three working steps. In the first step, the workpieces are exposed to a carbon and nitrogen rich environment at a temperature of 750 to 900 °C. In the second step, the quenching takes place after the workpiece was exposed to the target temperature for a certain time. The third step, the tempering treatment serves essentially to relieve the highest stresses in the material structure and to reduce sensitivity to grinding cracks. fields of application Carbonitriding results in a very hard case of the component. Specifically, this is useful in the case hardening of gears and similar components which are subject to a great deal of wear in hostile environments. This heat treatment process is especially useful if there is a requirement for a hard, wear resistant surface, overlying a much softer and tougher core. A good example for its application is a gear wheel. The surface of the teeth needs to be extremely hard so that they can withstand constant metal-to-metal contact, without undue wear. The underlying material needs to be tough so that the teeth can tolerate occasional impact loads, without the risk of fracture. Carbonitriding is used to give a hard case onto the cheapest steels which are often not capable of being case hardened because of their chemical composition. The carbonitriding process is applied to low carbon and mild steels and results in less distortion than traditional carburizing techniques. groundbreaking industries we serve tool manufacturing process locations Any questions? Contact us directly or select a process location near you. get in touch heat treatment Blackburn United Kingdom 584 km info.blackburn@aalberts-st.com +44 1254 264901 show location heat treatment Letchworth United Kingdom 362 km info.letchworth@aalberts-st.com +44 1462 472100 show location show all locations processes industries people & culture locations & contact news downloads follow us terms and conditions | data protection statement | legal notice | certificates cookies The Aalberts websites use cookies (read more) to analyse website usage and improve usability. We also use third party tracking-cookies to measure user preferences, enable content sharing on social media and interest-based advertising. If you hit 'accept' you allow to us to place the different types of cookies. settings accept all