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Microstructural, Mechanical and Corrosion Characterizations of Borided Cast Irons Formed by a Recycled Boriding Agent

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Abstract

In this study, a powder-pack boriding process using a recycled boriding agent without adding fresh powder was carried out on lamellar, spheroidal graphite, and high chromium cast irons at 1223 K for 4 h. Characterization was carried out by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and a micro-Vickers hardness tester. The Daimler-Benz Rockwell-C and scratch tests were applied for adhesion assessment. The boriding led mainly to the formation of boride layers with hard nature (FexBy and CrxBy) phases, 47-97 μm thickness and 1476–2149 HV0.1 hardness, depending on the type of cast iron substrate. Moreover, the results showed a better adhesion of the layer for the borided lamellar and spheroidal graphite compared to the borided high chromium iron. By using OCP and Tafel polarization to assess the samples' corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl solution, it was revealed that following boriding, the corrosion potential (Ecorr) shifted in favor of the noble direction. This boriding may contribute to improving the microstructure, hardness, adhesion, and corrosion resistance of cast iron surfaces in a more economical way.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Prof. Khelfaoui Youcef for his assistance in the XRD, Dr. LEMBOUB Samia and Mr. METIRI Mustapha for hardness and SEM testing, all the staff of Materials Science and Engineering at the National School of Mining and Metallurgy in Annaba-Algeria for their technical and scientific support, and the University of Siegen, Germany, for the SEM-EDX analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Foundry Laboratory, Metallurgy Department, Faculty of Technology, University of Badji-Mokhtar, Annaba, Algeria

    Tarig Tamam & M. Z. Touhami

  2. Mining Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, University of Omdurman Islamic, Khartoum, Sudan

    Tarig Tamam

  3. Metallurgy Department, Faculty of Technology, University of Badji–Mokhtar, Annaba, Algeria

    M. Zahzouh

  4. Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, University of Omdurman Islamic, Khartoum, Sudan

    Awad Eisa G. Mohamed

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  1. Tarig Tamam
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Tamam, T., Touhami, M.Z., Zahzouh, M. et al. Microstructural, Mechanical and Corrosion Characterizations of Borided Cast Irons Formed by a Recycled Boriding Agent. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 33, 194–212 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-023-07978-3

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