Characterization of the boronized AISI M35 & M42 steels and investigation of the wear behavior

Nowadays, the improving of the new materials as well as the various surface treatments are used in a wide area for the friction and wear problems. The boriding process that is a thermochemical surface treatment has been used in a wide area because of its ease, and it improves the wear resistance by increasing the surface hardness of a part. The boriding treatment may be conducted on the cutting tools (such as high speed tool steel) that work in abrasive environments for increasing the wear resistance. In this study, AISI M35 and M42 high speed steel borided with box-borinizing, and the boron layer that occurred as a result of this process was investigated. Additionally, wear tests were performed on all samples, and the effect of the boron layer on the wear resistance of the steel was investigated. Boriding process was performed for 850, 900, 950 °C and 2, 4, 6 hours, and XRD and SEM analysis of borided specimens were conducted. In the result of these analyzes, the various boron compounds on the surface of the base material occurred, and the coating layer thickness increased with the increasing the boriding time and temperature. This increase was reflected positively on the wear resistance of the steels. Additionally, the microhardness values of the coating layers (towards to the matrix from the surface) was measured, and the microhardness values obtained were compared with the wear data.