Boriding kinetics of H13 steel

It is known that boriding has been employed to increase the service life of parts such as orifices; ingot molds, and dies for hot forming made of AISI H13 steel. In this study, case properties and kinetics of borided AISI H13 steel have been investigated by conducting a series of experiments in Ekabor-I powders at the process temperature of 1073, 1173 and 1273 K for periods of 1–5 h. The presence of borides FeB and Fe2B of steel substrate was confirmed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of this study indicated that the morphology of the boride layer has a smooth and compact morphology, and its hardness was found to be in the range of 1650–2000 HV. Transition zone observed between the hard boride coating and the matrix was relatively softer than the substrate. The kinetics of boriding shows a parabolic relationship between layer thickness and process time, and the calculated activation energy for the process is 186.2 kJ/mol. Moreover, boriding parameter BOP, which is only a function of boride layer thickness and activation energy, has been suggested for the prediction of layer thickness in boriding of AISI H13. There is a reasonable correlation between the progress of boride layer thickness and proposed time–temperature-compensated parameter. Similar findings have been found when it is applied to another steels including tool and low alloy steels, as well as Armco iron.