(1) The co-infiltration temperature is low, the time is short, and the deformation of the workpiece is small.

(2) The process is not limited by the steel type. Carbon steel, low alloy steel, tool and die steel, stainless steel, cast iron and iron-based powder metallurgy materials can all be soft-nitrided. The surface hardness of the workpiece after nitrocarburizing is related to the nitriding process and material.

(3) It can significantly improve the fatigue limit, wear resistance and corrosion resistance of the workpiece. It also has anti-abrasion and anti-seize properties under dry friction conditions.

(4) Since there is no brittle ξ phase in the soft nitrided layer, the nitrided layer is hard and has certain toughness and is not easy to peel off. Therefore, soft nitriding has been widely used in the treatment of wear-resistant workpieces such as molds, measuring tools, high-speed steel tools, crankshafts, gears, and cylinder liners.

The problem with gas nitrocarburizing is that the thickness of the iron-nitrogen compound layer in the surface layer is relatively thin (0.01-0.02mm), and the hardness gradient of the nitride layer is steep, so this process is not suitable for workpieces working under heavy load conditions. In addition, it is necessary to prevent the leakage of furnace gas from polluting the environment.

Due to the low co-infiltration temperature, the solubility of carbon in phase a is only 1/20 of the solubility of nitrogen in a-Fe. Therefore, after the steel is nitrocarburized, the outermost layer of the surface can obtain a white layer of several microns to several tens of microns, which is composed of ε phase, `phase and nitrogen-containing cementite Fe3 (C, N) , The sub-layer is a 0.3-0.4mm diffusion layer, which is mainly composed of `phase and ε phase. The performance of the compound layer has a lot to do with the carbon and nitrogen content. If the carbon content is too high, although the hardness is high, it is close to the cementite performance, and the brittleness increases; if the carbon content is low and the nitrogen content is high, the performance of the pure nitrogen phase tends to be, not only the hardness decreases, but the brittleness increases. Therefore, the appropriate carbon and nitrogen content should be controlled according to the steel type and performance requirements. After nitrocarburizing, it should be cooled quickly to obtain a supersaturated solid solution, resulting in surface residual compressive stress, which can significantly increase the fatigue strength. After nitrocarburizing, the compound layer formed on the surface can also significantly improve the corrosion resistance.