Nitriding treatment refers to a chemical heat treatment process in which nitrogen atoms penetrate into the surface of the workpiece in a certain medium at a certain temperature. Nitrided products have excellent wear resistance, fatigue resistance, corrosion resistance and high temperature resistance.

The elements of aluminum, chromium, vanadium and molybdenum in traditional alloy steel are very helpful for nitriding. At the nitriding temperature, when these elements come into contact with the nascent nitrogen atoms, stable nitrides are formed. In particular, the molybdenum element serves not only as a nitride-forming element but also as a reduction in brittleness that occurs at the nitriding temperature. Elements in other alloy steels, such as nickel, copper, silicon, manganese, etc., do not contribute much to the nitriding characteristics. Generally speaking, if the steel contains one or more nitride forming elements, the effect after nitriding is relatively good. Among them, aluminum is the strongest nitride element, and nitriding results with 0.85-1.5% aluminum are better. For chromium-containing chromium steel, if there is enough content, good results can also be obtained. However, carbon steel without alloys is not suitable for nitriding steel because the nitrided layer formed is very brittle and easy to peel off.