Effect of boron on microstructure and microhardness properties of Mo-Si-B based coatings produced via TIG process

Abstract

In this study, Mo-Si-B based coatings were produced using tungsten inert gas (TIG) process on the medium carbon steel because the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of these alloys are particularly favourable for high-temperature structural applications. It is aimed to investigate of microstructure and microhardness properties of Mo-Si-B based coatings. Optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the microstructures of Mo-Si-B based coatings. The XRD results showed that microstructure of Mo-Si-B coating consists of Mo, Fe, Mo2B, Mo3Si and Mo5SiB2 phases. It was reported that the grains in the microstructure were finer with increasing amounts of boron which caused to occur phase precipitations in the grain boundary. Besides, the average microhardness of coatings changed between 735 HV0.3 and 1140 HV0.3 depending on boron content.