Air Hardening Nitriding Steels

The aim of the project is to develop nitriding air hardening nitriding steels for forged safety parts such as hollow shafts or planet carriers. Newly developed air hardening ductile (AHD) steels exhibit comparable or better properties compared to quenching and tempering steels while employing a shortened process chain, focusing on a single air cooling from the forging temperature. Hereby, air hardening nitriding steels help to reduce carbon footprint and energy costs. Plasma nitriding is applied on the components to increase the wear resistance and resistance to cyclic loading which extends service life. In the framework of the project, the chemical composition of air hardening nitriding steel and nitriding process parameters will be optimized and compared to reference alloys.