Usually, the process of nitrocarburizing takes up from 30 to even 100 hours, depending on the depth of the hardened layer. However, despite their great duration, these processes are inevitable during the production of some steels (particularly tool steels), since their surface hardness usually is not satisfying enough. Nitrocarburizing is carried out in order to increase the hardness at the surface while maintaining sufficient toughness at the inside. One of the continuous goals for researchers is to find new methods of nitrocarburizing which will be shorter and faster, but which will simultaneously keep the quality of the process on the high level. Aim of this paper is to present the adaptation of the old nitrocarburizing system to a new shorter method of nitrocarburizing in NH3+CO2 mixture (ammonia plus carbon dioxide). The whole process is described in detail and the three different steels were exposed to a process and their hardness was examined to see if there is any decrease in the hardness due to a shorter time.

Usually, the process of nitrocarburizing takes up from 30 to even 100 hours, depending on the depth of the hardened layer. However, despite their great duration, these processes are inevitable during the production of some steels (particularly tool steels), since their surface hardness usually is not satisfying enough. Nitrocarburizing is carried out in order to increase the hardness at the surface while maintaining sufficient toughness at the inside. One of the continuous goals for researchers is to find new methods of nitrocarburizing which will be shorter and faster, but which will simultaneously keep the quality of the process on the high level. Aim of this paper is to present the adaptation of the old nitrocarburizing system to a new shorter method of nitrocarburizing in NH3+CO2 mixture (ammonia plus carbon dioxide). The whole process is described in detail and the three different steels were exposed to a process and their hardness was examined to see if there is any decrease in the hardness due to a shorter time.

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