Cathodic cage nitriding of samples with different dimensions

A series of AISI 1020 steel cylindrical samples with different heights were simultaneously nitrided in cathodic cage plasma nitriding. In this technique, the samples are placed under a floating potential inside a cage in which the cathodic potential is applied. A systematic study of the nitriding temperature variation effects was carried out in order to evaluate the efficiency of such a technique over the uniformity of the formed layers. The samples were characterized by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and microhardness measurement. The results were compared with those ones obtained in the ionic nitriding, and was verified that the samples nitrided by this conventional technique presents less uniformity than the ones treated through this new technique.