Nitrogen in Steel - Discussion

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

I have always been interested in the role Nitrogen can play in a steel, let's discuss!

Can you add Nitrogen during heat treat?

Why don't we see more tough high Nitrogen steels? Infi is an example, is there a commercial steel that is close?

I can imagine S7 with N would be incredible!

I know there is a lot to a steel's composition, some elements change the ways others work and it gets complicated fast.

Increased toughness and rust resistance without Cr!

Thoughts and comments are very welcome.

 

[mete]

We have been adding N as a surface treatment for a long time usually along with carbon as ,"carbonitriding". Therere have been special nitriding steels containing abou 1 % Al which then forms aluminum nitride for wear resistance.

 

[KHDaily]

I don't know about all steels but you have to be very careful because you can get nitrogen embrittlement and it will make your knives EXTREMELY brittle!! Watch out...It is always a problem in heat treating in a manufacturing environment.

 

[mete]

KHD ,are you thinking of HYDROGEN embrittlement ? That is a real problem in steel which I've had to deal with.

When you mention nitrogen embrittlement , that is a serious problem with titanium.

 

[KHDaily]

KHD ,are you thinking of HYDROGEN embrittlement ?

Yep, had a minor brain fart yesterday I guess! Sorry about that.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Thanks for the contributions!

I think I will try some Vanax or another N steel sometime soon. It sounds really interesting to me. Tough and super rust resistant... I find it intriguing that the carbon can be extremely low and the hardness can still be so high. More reading must be done!