Abstract: The present invention is a unique sequential process for treating carbon and alloy steels to improve resistance to tribological stresses while reducing conventional processing time required to obtain articles having a similar hardness. This process comprises carburizing or carbonitriding the article, tempering the carburized or carbonitrided article, net-shaping (machining) the tempered article, and plasma (ion) nitriding the tempered article for a significantly reduced period of time versus conventional plasma (ion) nitriding.