Investigation of diffusion kinetics of borided x6cr17 steel

Abstract

In this study, the case properties and diffusion kinetics of DIN X6Cr17 steel borided in Ekabor-II powder were investigated by conducting a series of experiments at temperatures of 1123, 1223 and 1323K for 2, 4 and 6 h. The boride layer was characterized by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction technique and micro-Vickers hardness tester. X-ray diffraction analysis of boride layers on the surface of the steels revealed the existence of FexBy, CrxBy and NixBy compounds. The thickness of boride layer increases by increasing boriding time and temperature for all steels. Depending on the chemical composition of substrates, the boride layer thickness on the surface of the X6Cr17 steel was found to be 50.48 μm and 91.62 μm, respectively. The hardness of the boride compounds formed on the surface of the X6Cr17 steel ranged from 1658 to 2284 HV0,1.