Nanomechanical properties and fracture toughness of hard ceramic layer produced by gas boriding of Inconel 600 alloy

Gas-boriding in N2-H2-BCl3 atmosphere resulted in the formation of a thick layer on Inconel 600 alloy.The microstructure of layer produced at 920℃for 2 h consisted of a mixture of chromium borides and nickel borides.The objective of investigations was to determine the influence of the chemical and phase compositions of borided layer on its mechanical properties.The nanoindentation was carried out using Berkovich diamond tip under a load of 50 m N.The gas-borided layer was characterized by high indentation hardness HIT from 1542.6 HV to 2228.7 HV and high elastic modulus EIT from 226.9 to 296.4 GPa.It was found that the mixture with higher percentage of chromium borides was the reason for the increase in HIT and EIT values.The fracture toughness(KC)was measured using Vickers microindentation technique under a load of 0.98 N.The presence of high compressive stresses in normal direction to the top surface caused the strong anisotropy of the borided layer,in respect of fracture toughness.The high difference between the lowest(0.5763 MPa·m^1/2)and the highest(4.5794 MPa·m^1/2)fracture toughness was obtained.This situation was caused by the differences in chemical and phase compositions of tested areas,presence of porosity and residual stresses.Generally,the higher KC values were obtained in areas with lower chromium content.

Ternary layered boride MoAlB:A novel thermo-regulation microwave absorbing ceramic material

In the context of the fifth-generation(5G)smart era,the demand for electromagnetic wave(EMW)-absorbing materials has become increasingly prominent,so it is necessary to explore promising candidate materials.This work focuses on the exploration of the material absorbing properties of a MoAlB MAB(MAB represents a promising group of alternatives,where M stands for a transition metal,A typically denotes Al,and B is boron)phase system.First,the first-principles calculations were performed to reveal the unique crystal and layered structure of the MoAlB ceramics and to predict their potential for use as an EMW absorption material.Subsequently,a series of MoAlB ceramics were synthesized at temperatures ranging from 800 to 1300℃,and the influence of temperature on the phase compositions and microstructures of the obtained MoAlB ceramics was characterized and analyzed.Finally,the practical EMW absorption performance of the prepared MoAlB ceramics was evaluated via a combination of experiments and radar cross-sectional calculations.The MoAlB sample synthesized at 900℃ exhibits superior EMW absorption performance,achieving an impressive minimum reflection loss(RL)of−50.33 dB.The unique layered structure and good electrical conductivity of the MoAlB samples are the main reasons for their enhanced wave absorption performance,which provides interfacial polarization and multiple dielectric loss mechanisms.Therefore,this study not only contributes to the understanding of the preparation of MoAlB materials but also provides potential guidance for their utilization in the realm of electromagnetic wave absorption.

Deformation behavior and plastic instability of boronized Al0.25CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys

Using thermochemical treatments,boronized layers were successfully prepared on Al0.25CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys(HEAs).The thickness of the boronized layers ranged widely from 20 to 50μm,depending on the heat treatment time.Boronizing remarkably improved the surface hardness from HV 188 to HV 1265 after treating at 900°C for 9 h.Moreover,boronizing enhanced the yield strength of HEAs from 195 to 265 MPa but deteriorated the tensile ductility.Multiple crackings in the boride layers significantly decreased the plasticity.The insufficient work-hardening capacity essentially facilitated the plastic instability of the boronized HEAs.With decreasing substrate thickness,the fracture modes gradually transformed from dimples to quasi-cleavage and eventually to cleavage.

Microstructure and of Mechanics Microwave Boriding

Microwave boriding layer microstructure of carbon steels and its diffusion mechanics were studied. The results show that the existence of microwave field in the boriding can＇t change the growth mechanics of boriding layer. Compared with conventional boriding, if the treatment temperature and time remain constantly, the descend rate of the boriding layer thickness with the increase of carbon content of steel is smaller. The diffusion activation energy ofT8 steel is 2.6× 10^5 J/mol between the temperature of 750 ℃ and 900 ℃ in microwave field, which is in the same order of conventional boriding.

Effect of Surface Nanocrystallization Induced by Fast Multiple Rotation Rolling on Cr-Rare Earth-Boronizing for Steel 45 under Low-Temperature

In this paper, fast multiple rotation rolling （FMRR） is applied to fabricate a nanostructured layer on the surface of steel 45. The FMRR samples are then Cr-Rare earth-boronized under low-temperature. The boride layer is characterized by using Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. Experimental results indicate that the thickness of the boride layer is greatly increased by surface nanocrystallization. The boride layer with relatively continuous structure instead of the zigzag teeth structure is obtained, and the penetrating rate is enhanced by 2. 5-3.7 times when the FMRR samples are Cr-Rare earth- boronized at the temperature of 570 %, 600℃ and 650℃ for 6 h. The boride layer fabricated on the FMRR sample consists of single phase Fe2B. Severe plastic deformation with the grain size of approximately 100 nm in the top surface layer of steel 45 is observed, and the thickness of the plastic deformation layer is about 30 6xm. The microstructure in the top surface layer is characterized by Transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. Grain boundaries are largely increased with high stacking fault energy after FMRR, leading to a significant enhancement of RE boron-chromizing speed.

High-temperature deformation behaviour of duplex stainless steel with hard boronised layer

In order to understand the high-temperature deformation behaviour of alloy having hard surface layer,thermo-mechanically treated duplex stainless steel(DSS)is boronised for 0.75-6 h at 1223 K and subsequently deformed under compression mode at the same temperature under strain rate condition of 1×10^(-3),2×10^(-4) and 6×10^(-5) s^(-1) until strain of 0.4.The substrate microstructure is almost isotropic with grain size after boronising with layer thickness between 1.61 and 2.74μm.X-ray diffraction results confirm the formation of boride on DSS surface.The surface hardness of DSS increases from 387 to 1000-2400 HV after boronising.Uniform boronised layer with thickness of 20-40μm is formed at DSS surface.Compression results show that the flow stress of the deformation increases with the strain rate and boronising time.For the boronised samples,the flow stress range is between 5 and 89 MPa.To determine the actual effect of the boronised layer on the flow stress,the results are also compared with those from un-boronised samples having similar microstructure.The results suggest that at a constant grain size,even with the hardest layer,the effect of hard surface layer on the flow stress almost could be negligible when the deformation rate is slow,but at faster deformation rate,even in the layer with the least hardness,the flow stress shows a significant increase.It is also observed that the hard boride surface disintegration could be avoided at a sufficiently low deformation flow stress that could be attributed to superplasticity.