Modeling of nitrogen depth profiles in iron after nitriding with a homogenized laser beam

Abstract

In this letter we propose a phenomenological model to explain the nitrogen depth profile in iron after laser nitriding. The model is based on the one-dimensional diffusion equation and two sets of functions are use to fit the experimental profiles: complementary error function (erfc) and Gaussian. The different nature of these profiles reflects the presence of two stages in the process: the nitrogen is supplied in the sample as an erfc, while the diffusion to larger depths takes place as Gaussians. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)03441-0].