Investigation of corrosion and wear behavior of borided AISI P20 steel in micro-wave furnace

Abstract

In this study, the effect of microwave boronizing treatment on the corrosion and wear behaviour of boride layer formed on AISI P20 steel have been investigated. The boronizing treatment was carried out using Ekabor-II powders at temperatures of 800, 850 and 900 °C for 2, 4 and 6 h in a micro-wave furnace. Electron and optical microscopy, x-ray diffraction and hardness measurements were used to characterize the boride layers. The corrosion behaviour was also studied using electrochemical methods in a 1M NaCl solution and the wear behaviour was examined using the ball-on-disk wear method. Studies showed that the boride layer contained the phases of FeB, Fe2B, CrB and MnB and boride layer thickness was affected by the increase in boronizing time and temperature. Boronizing treatment contributed positively to the wear resistance by increasing the surface hardness and by decreasing the friction coefficient.