A series of austenitic stainless steel AISI 316 cylindrical samples with different heights were simultaneously nitrided using the cathodic cage technique. In this technique the samples are placed under a floating potential inside a cage which shields the cathodic potential. A systematic study of the effect of the nitriding temperature was carried out in order to evaluate the efficiency of this technique over the uniformity of the layers formed on samples of different heights. The samples were characterized by optical microscopy, x-ray diffraction and microhardness measurements. The results were compared with those obtained from conventional ionic nitriding, and it was verified that the samples nitrided by the conventional technique were less uniform than those treated through this new technique.
