nitrox

Noun

nitrox (uncountable)

1. 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.
   • 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.1988, Robert B[allantyne] Ross, “‘Nitrox’”, in Handbook of Metal Treatments and Testing, 2nd edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Chapman and Hall, →ISBN, part 1 (A–Z of Treatment and Testing Processes)...
   • 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.2007 April 3, John McCollum, Integrated Circuit Wafer with Inter-die Metal Interconnect Lines Traversing Scribe-line Boundaries, US Patent Application 20070184635A1 (PDF version), paragraph 0022...
2. 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.
   • "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...1989 September, “Abstract”, in R. W. Hamilton, Dudley J. Crosson, Alan W. Hulbert, editors, Workshop on Enriched Air Nitrox Diving (National Undersea Research Program Research Report; 89-1)...
   • 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...1991 October, “Appendix D: NOAA Nitrox I Diving and Decompression Tables”, in NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology, Silver Spring, Md.: Office of Undersea Research, Oceanic and...