Wear Protection with

Borocoat-Diffusion Layers
 Outline

Brief
Brief Introduction
Introduction to
to Heat
HeatTreatments
Treatments

Boronizing
Boronizing
•• Properties
Properties
•• Applications
Applications
•• Boronizing
Boronizing agents
agents

-2-
 Surface Treatments

Thermo-
Thermo-
Thermal
Thermal Gas
Gasphase
phase Galvanic
Galvanic
chemical
chemical

Flame Hard Chrome

Carburizing CVD
hardening plating

Induction
Nitriding PACVD Nickel plating
hardening

Electron beam
Boronizing PVD Zinc plating
hardening

-3-
 Heat Treatment Overview

Diffusion
Diffusion
Annealing
Annealing Hardening
Hardening Tempering
Tempering treatments*
treatments*
Recrystallization
Recrystallization Through
Throughhardening
hardening <200°C
<200°C Nitriding
Nitriding
annealing
annealing

Stress
Stressrelief
relief Surface
Surfacehardening
hardening >500°C
>500°C Carburizing
Carburizing
annealing
annealing

Secondary
Secondary
Soft
Softannealing
annealing Boronizing
Boronizing
(>480°C)
(>480°C)

Normalizing
Normalizing Age
Agehardening
hardening Oxidizing
Oxidizing

Diffusion
Diffusionannealing
annealing

-4-
 Coatings (CVD, PVD, Thermal spray...)

Boundary between coating

and steel substrate

Coating

Functional layer develops on top of the substrate

●
Moderate adhesion
●
High stresses on interface

-5-
 Diffusion Processes ( e.g. Boronizing )

Atoms

Functional surface is developed within the material

●
Superior adhesion
●
Low dimensional changes

-6-
 What is Boronizing?

Boronizing
Boronizingisisaathermocemical
thermocemicalsurface
surfacetreatment
treatmentin
inwhich
which
Boron
Boronatoms
atomsdiffuse
diffuseinto
intothe
thesteel
steelsubstrate
substrateand
andform
formaa
very
veryhard
hardBorocoat-layer.
Borocoat-layer.

Boronizing
Boronizingeasily
easilytops
topsthe
theperformance
performanceof
ofcommonly
commonly
used
usedmethods
methodssuch
suchas
ascarburizing
carburizingor
ornitriding.
nitriding.

-7-
 Properties of Borocoat Layers

--High
Highhardness
hardness1400-2600
1400-2600HV,
HV,even
evenon
onnon-alloyed
non-alloyedsteels
steels
--Diffusion
Diffusiondepth
depth10-250
10-250μm
μm
--High
Highabrasion
abrasionresistance,
resistance,resistance
resistanceagainst
againstcold
coldwelding
welding
--Excellent
Excellentthermal
thermalstability
stability
--Self
Selflubricating
lubricatingeffect
effectat
athigh
hightemperatures
temperatures
--Superior
Superiorbonding
bondingstrength,
strength,no
nocoating
coatingbut
butdiffusion
diffusionlayer
layer
--Good
Goodresistance
resistanceagainst
againstmolten
moltenmetals
metals(Al,
(Al,Zn)
Zn)

-8-
 Material Selection for Boronizing

--Non
Nonalloyed
alloyedand
andlow
lowalloyed
alloyedsteels.
steels.

--Stainless
Stainlesssteels
steels

--Cast
Castiron,
iron,casted
castedsteel
steel

--Cold
Coldwork,
work,hot
hotwork
workand
andHSS
HSSsteel
steel

--Powder
Powdermetallurgical
metallurgicalsteels
steels

--Cobald
Cobaldbased
basedmaterials
materials

--Cemented
Cementedcarbides
carbides

--Nickel-based
Nickel-basedalloys
alloys(Nimonic®
(Nimonic®, ,Inconel®,
Inconel®,Hastelloy®,
Hastelloy®,Haynes®)
Haynes®)

Boronizing
Boronizingisisthe
themost
mosteffective
effectivewear
wearsolution
solution
for
forNickel-based
Nickel-basedalloys!
alloys!

-9-
 Applications

--Automotive
Automotivecomponents
components(turbo
(turbocharger
chargerengineering)
engineering)

--Oil
Oiland
andgas
gasindustry
industry(valves
(valvesand
andaccessories)
accessories)

--Power
Powerplant
plantengineering
engineering

--Toolmaking
Toolmakingand
andmetal
metalforming
formingtechnology
technology

--Plastics
Plasticsprocessing
processing

--Glass
Glassproduction
production

--Gear
Gearmanufacturing
manufacturing

--Components
Componentsfor
fortextile
textilemachinery
machinery

--Aluminum
Aluminumprocessing
processing

--Mechanical
Mechanicalengineering
engineering

-10-
 Boronizing - Setup-

Metal
Metal Box
Box

Ekabor®
Ekabor® Boronizing
Boronizing powder
powder

Furnace
Furnace

-11-
 Box for Boronizing

Gas outlet

Top cover

Sealing

Annealing box

Protective gas inlet

Material AISI 314 (1.4841)

-12-
Box for Boronizing

-13-
Parts Preparation

Sample for quality control

Part

Container

Boronizing powder (Ekabor2)

15mm

-14-
Parts Preparation

-15-
Batch for Boronizing packed in a Box

-16-
Batch for Boronizing packed in a Box

-17-
 Properties of Borides

FeB Fe2B

% Bor 16,23 8,83

Lattice Structure rhombic tetragonal

Stress after cooling down Tension Compressive

Coefficient of Linear 23 7,9-9,2

Expansion10-6/K
Hardness [HV0.1] 1900-2100 1650-2000

Density [g/cm3] 6,75 7,43

Modulus of Elasticity [GPa] 343 284

Thermal Conductivity 12 30
[W/mK]

2 -18-
 Boronizing Layer
(Iron matrix has been etched off, only boronized layer structure is visible)

Former
Formersurface
surface

9
-19-
 Microsections of Boronized Steels

Armco (pure) iron

AISI 1015 / 1.0401 /C15

AISI 5115 / 1.7131 / 16MnCr5

-20-
 Microsections of Boronized Steels

AISI D-6 / 1.2436 / X210CrW12

Cold work steel

AISI 4140 / 1.7225 / 42CrMo4

Tempering steel

AISI 314 / 1.2343

Hot work steel

-21-
Microsections of Boronized Nickel-Based Alloy

Hastelloy®
Hastelloy®C4
C4/ /2.4610
2.4610
Nickel-Based Alloy
Nickel-Based Alloy

Hardness before boronizing: 425 HK0.1

Hardness boronized: 1715 HK0.1

-22-
Wear Comparison of AISI 4131
Ball-disc test (FN=17N, 500m)

-23-
 Corrosion of high alloyed Steel in molten Zink

untreated
Weight loss [g/cm2]

boronized

Tsipas et al
Time [h]

-24-
 Corrosion Resistance of Boronized vs Untreated
Steel AISI 1045 (Ck45) at 56°C

untreated
Weight loss [mg/cm2]

boronized

time [h|

-25-
Lifetime comparison of boronized and nitrided extruder screws

Nitrided Boronized
GF=amount of glass fibres

-26-
Boronized Extrusion Screws

-27-
Boronized Ball Valves (Stainless Steel)

Material AISI 316

Hadness base material: 315 HV

Hardness boronized 1950 HV

-28-
Ball Valves

-29-
Boronized Burner Nozzle

-30-
Boronized Automotive Parts

Oil pump gears

Only teeth boronized

Hardness 1700 HV

Depth 40µm

-31-
 Boronized Parts for Glass Bottle Production

Prevention of sticking (glass-metal)

-32-
Boronized Parts for Glass Bottle Production

-33-
Boronized Filters

Stainless Steel

Hardness before: 285HV

Boronized: 1800HV

Prevention of Abrasion

-34-
Boronized Pump Part

Inconel®

Hardness before: 425 HK

Boronized 2880 HK

Depth 50µm

-35-
Boronized Compressor Wheel

Inconel® 625

Hardness before: 396 HV

Boronized: 2715 HK

Depth: 60µm

-36-
-37-