Effect of heat treatment on microstructures and properties of Fe-B-C alloy

The solidification process and solidification structures of Fe-B-C alloy containing 1.4%-2.0% B and 0.4%-0.6% C were researched. The change of microstructures, mechanical properties and wear resistance of the alloy at different quenching temperatures were also studied. The results show that the solidification structures of Fe-B-C alloy consist of borides such as Fe2B, Fe3(C, B) and Fe23(C, B)6 and metallic matrix such as martensite, pearlite and ferrite. The part of boride network is broken and there is no new phase after quenching. The matrix transforms into the single martensite completely and the hardness exceeds 55 HRC. The hardness of Fe-B-C alloy increases while the impact toughness has no obvious change with increase of the quenching temperature. Under the conditions of static load pin-on-disc wear and dynamic load impact wear, Fe-B-C alloy has excellent wear resistance and the quenching temperature has no marked effect on the wear resistance. © 2010, Northwest Institute for Nonferrous Metal Research. Published by Elsevier BV. All rights reserved.