Abstract: A wear-resistant, nonabrasive metal article, such as a thread guide, comprising a plain carbon steel substrate with a thin, dense, continuous coating of titanium nitride, having a thickness of about 1 to 5 microns, chemically vapor deposited at reduced pressure on said steel substrate, and preferably a thin, continuous, smooth, titanium carbide coating, having a thickness of about 5 to 25 microns, chemically vapor deposited at reduced pressure on said nitride coating, the carbide coating having HK.sub.50 hardness of 3600 to 3900 and a surface finish of 0.2 to 0.5 micron.

Abstract: An apparatus and process for smoothing and densifying both the upper and lower surfaces of a filamentary mat or sheet as rows of freshly melt spun filaments are permitted to fall freely onto the surface of a liquid cooling bath whereby the individual filaments spread laterally at the bath surface to form helical to sinuous loops which then become self-bonded at overlapping points of intersection within a short distance below the bath surface. A flattening or densifying of upper and lower surfaces of the mat into a more rigid structural member is accomplished by inserting at least one pair of downwardly diverging plates within the bath such that the upper apex thereof extends parallel to the rows of filaments and falls within at least one outermost row of filaments, thereby deflecting such a row inwardly and upwardly over the apex as it is incorporated into an outer bonded surface of the mat.