Rising oil and gas prices, soaring energy costs and inflation rates which we have not had for many decades are the current issues of a lot of companies. Radical financial cutbacks and investment stops are often a consequence. However, it is worth having a very close look at the running instead of investment costs, because modern manufacturing processes can save a lot of money, medium as well as long term.
Within the heat treat industry, plasma nitriding is one of these modern processes. In addition, it is one of the most environmentally friendly and therefore most sustainable methods of making components more resistant to wear and corrosion. The benefits are most evident when comparing the plasma nitriding process with the more common and older process of gas nitriding. While gas nitriding processes mainly rely on ammonia as nitrogen source for nitriding, plasma nitriding mostly requires nitrogen and a small amount of hydrogen.
1. Savings through much less gas consumption
Ammonia production alone is a very energy intensive and costly process. In addition, large amounts of nitrogen are required for safety purging and for burning off the residual ammonia, which is obsolete in plasma nitriding. Consumption of all process gases is therefore around 15 times (or more) higher for gas nitriding when comparing the same annual production volume. (A practical example shows: plasma nitriding of disc carriers requires 5 m3 of process gases, whereas gas nitriding consumes 90 m3.)
2. Savings through missing safety devices
Due to the lack of ammonia in plasma nitriding, there is no risk of explosion from the process atmosphere. Also gas warning devices for ammonia vapor are also not required, and intensive nitrogen safety purging, as mentioned above, is no longer necessary.
3. Savings through less space requirements
Due to the lower gas consumption, significantly smaller areas are required for largevolume gas tanks or a gas storage. Natural gas or propane gas for exhaust gas burning is also not required, nor are specially installed exhaust pipings.
4. Savings through easier integration into existing factories
Since no toxic substances are used, no open flames exist and no toxic vapors are generated, no extraordinary adaptations are usually necessary inside manufacturing facilities if a plasma nitriding system has to be installed.
Tip: Ecological footprint as an EXTRA
Due to lower gas and energy waste, as well as lower annual emissions of CO2 and NOx, you also save money on any environmental tax / eco tax, and make a significant contribution to the ecological footprint of your product!
