Gaseous Ferritic Nitro Carburising

Gaseous ferritic nitrocarburizing is also known as controlled nitrocarburizing, soft nitriding, and vacuum nitrocarburizing or by the tradenames "UltraOx", "Nitrotec", "Nitemper", "Deganit", "Triniding", "Corr-I-Dur", "Nitroc", "Nitreg-C", "Nitrowear", and "Nitroneg". The process works to achieve the same result as the salt bath process, except gaseous mixtures are used to diffuse the nitrogen and carbon into the workpiece.

The parts are first cleaned, usually with a vapor degreasing process, and then nitrocarburized around 570 ^oC (1,058 ^oF), with a processing time that ranges from one to four hours. The actual gas mixtures are proprietary, but they usually contain ammonia and an endothermic gas.

In comparison to a standard nitriding process, ferritic nitrocarburizing or FNC in a vacuum furnace takes less time to achieve case depth requirements - mainly in part due to the addition of carbon to achieve faster diffusion.