Plasma nitriding · Case study

H13 nitriding: a deep case for sliding wear.

Patt consistently produces nitrided cases of 250 µm or more on H13. High near-surface hardness and a supporting diffusion zone help the treated steel withstand contact loading, sliding wear and galling.

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≥250 µmProduction case depth reported by Patt

≈1,100Recorded hardness at 20 µm (HV0.05)

≈800×Patt-reported sliding-wear improvement

Hardness supported by case depth

A hard surface needs support beneath it. For H13 components exposed to repeated contact and sliding, Patt develops a diffusion case that distributes the transition from the hardened surface region toward the substrate. A case of 250 µm or more provides substantial load support below the working surface.

The process is designed to avoid intergranular nitrides (IGN) and brittle surface layers. Case depth, hardness profile and layer structure are considered together when matching treatment to the component and its service conditions.

Measured microhardness through the case

Two archived H13 traverses record hardness at the upper and lower sample locations. Each profile contains 12 measurements, from 20 to 290 µm below the surface. The graph connects the recorded readings without smoothing or extrapolation.

H13 microhardness graph comparing upper and lower locations from 20 to 290 micrometres, measured at a 50 g load. — UP and DOWN identify the two locations in the original microscopy images. Measurements use a 50 g Vickers load (HV0.05). The vertical 250 µm line is a depth reference, not an additional measurement.

Microhardness traverse readings

Original recorded values at each measured depth; hardness is expressed as HV0.05.
Depth below surface (µm)	Upper location (HV0.05)	Lower location (HV0.05)
20	1107	1106
40	1076	1075
70	1046	1021
100	1048	1021
120	1020	1021
140	994	944
170	920	835
190	743	712
220	653	653
240	626	601
270	601	578
290	589	578

A gradual transition toward the substrate

At 20 µm, the two readings are 1,107 and 1,106 HV0.05. At 120 µm, they remain 1,020 and 1,021 HV0.05. Farther into the case, the readings are 626 and 601 HV0.05 at 240 µm, and 601 and 578 HV0.05 at 270 µm. These profiles show the hardness gradient beneath the working surface.

Original cross-sectional micrographs

The selected micrographs retain their original annotations and 50 µm scale bars. Open either image to inspect it at full resolution.

H13 cross-section: upper location (UP), with the original indentation track and 50 µm scale bar.

H13 cross-section: lower location (DOWN), with the original indentation track and 50 µm scale bar.

Sliding wear and galling performance

Patt reports the following performance improvements for its H13 nitriding process. These wear results are separate from the microhardness measurements shown above.

Approximately 800× better sliding-wear resistance

Patt reports an approximately 800-fold improvement in sliding-wear resistance compared with the untreated H13 substrate. This addresses material loss at sliding contacts.

Significantly improved galling resistance

Patt also reports significantly improved resistance to galling, helping protect contacting surfaces against adhesive damage and material transfer during sliding.

Applying the process to H13 tooling

For plastics tooling and other H13 components, the treatment can address sliding contacts where wear, adhesive damage and supporting case depth matter together. The target profile is selected around the actual contact conditions, component geometry and previous heat treatment.

For an application review, send the H13 heat-treatment condition, core hardness, drawing, working temperature, contact or wear problem, masking areas and final dimensional requirements.

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Engineer the case around your H13 component

Tell us about the material condition, geometry and wear problem. Patt can review the case-depth and surface requirements for your application.

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