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Boronizing of AISI 316L Stainless Steel Using Spark Plasma Sintering Technique

Austenitic stainless-steel has been widely used. Although it offers excellent corrosion resistance, processability, and nonmagnetic properties, it is inferior in terms of wear resistance and hardness. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to form iron boride on an austenitic stainless-steel surface using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method and to evaluate its properties. The SPS method was utilized because the rapid heating involved in the process reduces the processing time. AISI 316L as a sample material was boronized for 3.6 ks at 1073 – 1273 K at applied pressures of 4 MPa and 8 MPa with a powder mixture of B4C and KBF4. The Vickers hardness profile results showed that the hardness of the untreated sample was ~ 200 HV whereas that of the boronized sample was ~ 2300 HV. The wear test profile showed that the wear resistance of the boronized sample was significantly improved. Moreover, according to elemental analyses, boron diffused from the sample surface to 200 μm and 60 μm when the applied pressure was 8 MPa and 4 MPa, respectively. This indicated that boron diffused to a greater depth when the applied pressure was increased.