Production and Characterization of Boride and Carbide Layers on AISI 15B30 Steel

Abstract

In this work, boriding and Thermo-reactive Deposition (TRD) treatments for the production of boride and both vanadium and niobium carbide layers were performed on the substrates of AISI 15B30 steel to evaluate properties such as hardness, adhesive wear resistance, surface adhesion and chemical compounds present in the layers. For this purpose, layers were characterized by optical microscope, Knoop microhardness, microadhesive wear test, Rockwell C indentation adhesion according to VDI 3198 and X-ray diffraction. The results showed layers with high hardness (1400 - 2500 HK), greater microadhesive wear resistance (up to 15 times higher) when compared to the substrate and excellent delamination resistance.