Conventional high-speed steels, which are carbide decentralized materials, are used for sliding parts, but they lack sufficient hardness for some applications. Improvement of surface hardness is possible for high-Cr steels through nitriding. However, nitriding P/M parts is not advisable without sealing the porosity before treatment, as they will become brittle. However, it is difficult to seal the pores with steam treatment, because high-Cr steel has a passive film on the surface. Controlling nitriding by decreasing the amount of oxygen on the surface to be nitrided, and grinding to decrease the porosity of the surface, makes it possible to produce a material that has reasonable and sufficient hardness in the required areas.

• Shioiri
• Hironori
• Uemoto
• Keiichi
• Motooka
• Naoki