Metallurgists are developing new steels to assist automotive engineers in designing better trucks, cars and SUVs.

The application of ion/plasma nitriding to powder-metal (PM) products is recommended over the gas nitriding method. Ion/plasma nitriding results in surface hardening while gas nitriding causes unintended through-nitriding, making the treatment not suitable for a majority of engineering components made of PM.

Modern designing of mechanical components and tools should take under consideration their intrinsic stresses and surface condition.

The need for lighter and safer vehicles increases the demand for stronger steels in automotive bodies. Aerospace components have many of the same demands but on a more rigidly controlled level with a wider variety of materials.

Heating of loads in modern plasma nitriding furnaces is carried out by a combination of the radiative heat transfer from the wall or furnace resistance heaters and heat transfer from the glow discharge. We will look at the effect of the workpiece emittance on its temperature.