On issue of effect of rare-earth metals on microhardness and microfragility of borated layers obtained by liquid electrolysis-free boriding on multi-alloy steels

Abstract

The structure and properties of borated layers obtained on differently alloyed steels in melts with various additions of rare-earth oxides are studied. It is shown that the presence of a rare-earth oxide additive increases depth of borated layers, and also makes it possible to reduce their microhardness from standard values of 1900...2100 HV 0.1 to 1600...1800 HV 0.1 and microfragility: the values of the microfragility index for all studied samples decreased by more than 2 times.