Duplex Coatings - Lesson 2: Plasma nitriding of tool steels
Welcome back to the Ionbond Summer School!
Today, we are diving into the plasma nitriding process. What is it exactly?
Plasma nitriding: a treatment, not a coating
Plasma nitriding is an important step in the creation of a duplex coating, but it is not a coating in itself. It belongs to the group of thermo-chemical diffusion treatments. These are thermal treatments that take advantage of diffusion of atoms from the surrounding plasma into the solid tool to change its chemical composition. The aim is to optimize the materials’ microstructure characteristics, which have a significant influence on the tool’s performance in production.
See below two cross sections of D2 cold work steel after plasma nitriding.
Heat treatment performed under vacuum
Specifically, plasma nitriding is a thermo-chemical surface heat treatment performed under vacuum and driven by diffusion.
Surface heat treatment
It is a surface heat treatment, which means it is used in situations where the surface layer needs to have a higher hardness and be more wear resistant than the core.
Diffusion
Diffusion is the movement of species (atoms, ions, molecules, etc.) from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Therefore, it is always driven by a gradient in concentration.
During plasma nitriding, nitrogen is brought to an ionized gas state (plasma) so it can diffuse into the surface of the tool. It is a low-temperature process with temperatures between 400 and 600 °C.
Now you know what plasma nitriding is, you are ready for the next lesson: more detail about the different layers that arise during plasma nitriding, and what the benefits and drawbacks are.
Ionbond Summer School
Discover all our lessons on Duplex Coatings
Lesson 1: The correct heat treatment of tool steels
Available on 31. July 2024
Duplex coatings are especially suited for forming and molding tools. Before we can get started with that, though, we need to take one step back and look at how your tool has been treated before it arrives at Ionbond – whether it has had the correct heat treatment.
Lesson 2: Plasma nitriding of tool steels
Available on 7. August 2024
We are diving into the plasma nitriding process, a nitriding method with high reproducibility and close tolerances in the treatment result. Discover what it is exactly!
Lesson 3: Duplex coatings and their layer properties & performance
Available on 14. August 2024
We will look at the result of plasma nitriding. Two layers form, each with their own characteristics – some of which are very much desired and others are not.
Lesson 4: Shallow plasma nitriding plus Ionbond™ 35 & Ionbond™ 90
Available on 21. August 2024
We are going into one of the two types of duplex coating we will discuss. These two ways are differentiated by the depth of the plasma nitriding layer. In this lesson: shallow plasma nitriding.
Lesson 5: Deep plasma nitriding plus Ionbond™ 90
Available on 28. August 2024
In Lesson 4 we looked at shallow plasma nitriding. Now, we are going to look into duplex coatings for the most demanding applications, which require much deeper plasma nitriding layers.
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Dr. Ing. Tobias Brögelmann
成型与模塑全球分部经理
Dr. Ing. Tobias Brögelmann
成型与模塑全球分部经理