In Situ Production of B4C and FeV Enriched Composite Surface on Low Carbon Steel by Cast Sintering Technique

A simple and cost effective technique to obtain locally hardened composite layer on cast alloy was previously developed based on advantages of liquid-sintering theory. This methodology provides an opportunity to produce final product with hardened composite layer with good wear resistance during casting process. The current study investigated the effect of combined B4C and FeV substrates on the composite layer properties during in situ cast sintering technique for low carbon steel. Microstructure inspection, XRD phase analysis, chemical composition, thickness measurement and the hardness test on the produced composite layer were conducted. The technique produced up to 640 (±300) µm thick composite layer with maximum hardness of 481 (± 14.6) HV. The hardness of the reinforced surface layer is 3-4 times higher than the base alloy. The increased hardness of composite zone is directly attributed to the presence of the iron boron (FeB), boron vanadium (V2B3) and iron carbide (Fe3C). There were no significant effect of substrate composition on the produced thickness of the composite layer. However, an increase of FeV proportion in the powder mixture leads increased the hardness. The current study is a first attempt to produce locally hardened surface layer on the low carbon steel using simple and cost effective in situ technique with use of relatively inexpensive substrates.