Surface Topography of Nitrided Steel Surfaces

Abstract

The effect of nitrocarburizing were investigated for two different steels, 42CrMo4 and 25CrMo4, with objective to evaluate the influence of initial surface topography on the resulting nitrocarburized surface with regard to surface topography and thickness of the compound layer. It was found that the nitrocarburizing process has an impact on the surface topography. The process creates a short-wave isotropic structure on the original surface and this is particularly evident for the smoother original surfaces. No significant effect on the compound layer thickness depending on the surface topography before heat treatment could be observed.