nitrox

1. (metallurgy) An industrial process for case hardening (imparting greater surface hardness to) metal objects, involving nitrocarburizing (the diffusion of carbon and nitrogen into the metal) followed by oxidation.Examples: "The ‘nitrox’ process basically supplies the surface hardness of the sursulf process, which is essentially carbonitriding, and then oxidizes it. The oxide is adherent and thus considerably increases the corrosion resistance."; "Two other materials-based approaches may be employed in the present invention. One is to use highly doped glass (with boron or phosphorus) or plasma nitride (otherwise known as nitrox) as the inter-metal layer insulator."; "Carbonitriding processes are typically conducted in either a gas (ammonia) or a salt bath based on trade names such as Tufftride, Nitrotec, and Nitrox. Alternatively, a plasma nitriding process may be conducted."uncountable

2. (underwater diving) A mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, the nitrogen content being lower than that of normal air, which is used in place of air as a breathing gas.Examples: ""Enriched air" or "nitrox" is a mixture of air and oxygen; the oxygen component ranges to about 50% but is used normally at 32 to 40%. [...] Safe enriched air nitrox diving practices established for the scientific diving community might be of some value and could help avoid accidents due to ignorance of its hazards and use of improper procedures."; "NOAA Nitrox I is a standard breathing gas mixture of 32% oxygen (±1%); the balance of the gas (68%) is nitrogen. [...] High-pressure storage cylinders, scuba tanks, regulators, and all high-pressure gas transfer equipment that is used with pure oxygen or with nitrox mixtures that contain more than 40 percent oxygen must be cleaned and maintained for oxygen service."; "Is there a compromise between too much oxygen and too much inert gas? The answer is the use of enriched air nitrox (enriched air) mixtures in the SCUBA tank. The two most commonly used mixtures are 32 percent and 36 percent oxygen mixtures. [...] [T]he increased oxygen percentages make the diver using nitrox mixtures more subject to oxygen seizures. With nitrox mixtures, the relative increase in oxygen percentage is over three times the relative decrease in nitrogen percentage."uncountable