Morung Express News Kohima | May 30 With the objective to improve the farmers’ access to tools with upgraded simple designs, Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC) held a seminar on ‘Radical Nitriding Process for improving the life of cutting tools for agriculture’ on May 30, at the NASTEC, Science and Technology complex. The resource person for the seminar was Dr. Alphonsa Joseph, Engr SG from the Facilitation Center for Industrial Plasma Technologies (FCIPT), Institute of Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Heat treatment and its uses Providing a brief introduction to heat treatment, and its uses, Dr. Alphonsa mentioned that heat treatment is used for improving machineability, ductility, residual stresses and wear resistance by power metal industry, aircraft industry, automobile manufacturing and the likes. A major component of the heat treatment is the diffusion treatment which is used in metal shaping, and mainly consists of three mediums that is gas, liquid and plasma. Claiming that the plasma treatment is gaining popularity because of its energy efficiency and lower gas consumption, Dr. Alphonsa stated that an important form of the plasma heat treatment is the plasma nitriding treatment (industrial surface hardening treatment for metals or metallic materials). The advantaged of the plasma nitriding treatment are lower Processing Time than conventional Nitriding process, lower Processing Temperature than conventional Nitriding process, lower Power Consumption, higher Productivity, lower distortion of components; it does not require any post nitriding treatment such as grinding, polishing. Besides being a controlled process, the masking for the process is simple, as well as clean, and environment-friendly. Radical Plasma Nitriding process Dr. Alphonsa also provided information on the application, mechanism, process parameter, and components of the plasma nitriding system. The disadvantages of the process however are its limitations where conductive materials can only be treated, surface damage caused by arcing, non-uniform surface quality owing to the ‘edge effect’, variations in chamber temperatures, low packing capacity owing to ‘hollow-cathode effect’, difficulties in treating large amount of very small components. According to the resource person, Radical Plasma Nitriding process is most effective for improving the efficiency of cutting tools in agriculture because of its application in both conductive and non conductive materials, similar properties like plasma nitriding process, but more economical. “It enables proper temperature control and uniformity, allows mixing of parts with different dimensions with the same time,” said Dr. Alphonsa adding that sharp objects can be treated without affecting its sharpness, and it also increases the process efficiency [up to 50% more load density]. Further, bulk loads can be treated uniformly and efficiently. Dr. Alphonsa also mentioned that this technology can be promoted in Nagaland by identifying an industrial collaborator with the help of DST Nagaland, further the technology can be transferred to a local cutting tool manufacturer in Nagaland with the help of DST Nagaland Experiments on nitriding tools ‘very positive’ Neikuo Krome, Senior Research Fellow at NASTEC informed that the experiments on the nitriding tools have been very positive and the department is planning to promote the process in the allied sectors such as Horticulture and Agriculture department. “The machine will be installed in Dimapur which will be the fourth machine to be installed in India. It is expected to be functional in October. If the farmers bring their tools, we will nitride it at minimum rate. We are trying to develop more light weight tools Radical nitriding is better for cutting edges. We are also planning to invest in vehicle sectors too,” says Krome who believes that the machine will also enhance productivity. Developing indigenous designs can last longer, according Krome while mentioning that the traditional tools used by farmers in Nagaland are outdated. With the help of the Government of India and the Plasma institute, the machine will be installed near Burma Camp and is expected to cost Rs. 50,000.
