Growth kinetics of boride layers formed on 99.0% purity nickel

摘要

The present study reports on the kinetics of borided Nickel 201 alloy. The thermochemical treatment of boronizing was carried out in a solid medium consisting of B4C and KBF4 powders mixture at 1123, 1173 and 1223 K for 2, 4 and 6 h, respectively. The boride layer was characterized by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction technique and micro-Vickers hardness tester. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the existence of NiB, Ni2B, Ni3B and Ni4B3 compounds at the surface of borided Nickel 201 alloy. The thickness of the boride layer increased with an increase in the boriding time and the temperature. The hardness of the nickel borides formed on the surface of the nickel substrate ranged from 1642 to 1854 HV0.05, whereas the Vickers hardness value of the untreated nickel was 185 HV (0.05). The growth kinetics of boride layers forming on the borided Nickel 201 alloy was also analysed. The boron activation energy (Q) was estimated as equal to 203.87 kJ mol(-1) for the borided Nickel 201 alloy.