FEATURE A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 4 3 There aremany surface finishes available and a handful even rise to the top as high-performance surface finishes. The search for one best surface finish continues for both new component designs and to replace existing processes like hard chrome. Boriding, also known as boronizing, is a thermochemical diffusion-based surface-hardening process that can be applied to a wide variety of ferrous, nonferrous, and cermet materials. Boriding is typically performed on metal components as a solution for extending the life of metal parts that wear out too quickly in applications with severe wear. Boriding has often been able to increase the usable service life of high-wear metal components by factors ranging from double to ten times the wear life when compared to many conventional heat treatments and platings[1]. Boronizing diffuses boron into the metals grain structure and densifies the case. This is why most highly alloyed materials are not great candidates as their structure has already been altered or “filled” with other alloying elements. The process is not that different from nitriding where at an elevated temperature nitrogen is diffused into the material. Two significant advantages of boronization are the hardness and the ability to reheat the part including heat treating. Although the technology of boronizing has been around for many years, there have not been any significant advancements until about five years ago. Boronizing has been used effectively as a case hardening process with excellent corrosion resistant properties but with it has come some idiosyncrasies that made it hard to commercialize. Boronizing 2.0 is a new iteration of the process, which is easy to selectively apply, more cost effective, and can be done at the OEM without a huge investment. B4C Technologies uses the trade name Blaze for this process. Blaze has been outperforming other surface finishes in the oil and gas industry for the past five years BORONIZATION 2.0 Blaze is an environmentally friendly case-hardening process with good wear characteristics, a low coefficient of friction, and it can be applied directly at the OEM. Michael Vetter B4C Technologies, Palm City, Florida and there is abundant third-party data to verify its significant wear attributes. Figure 1 shows a third-party application validation in the oil and gas industry on defined components. These components show 4 to 7 times the run time of standard components currently used in this extreme environment. The oil and gas industry has one of the most extreme environments on the planet due to abrasive and chemical wear in remote areas creating huge downtime costs for maintenance. The process is now being adopted in motorsports components, the extrusion industry, and metal forming, just to name a few. Any applications where longer life or more efficient operation is critical have the potential for these enhanced components. ADVANTAGES So what are the distinctions to this new thermal boron diffusion? There are two significant advancements that expand the platform to a multitude of new applications: Simple application. The product is a “slurry” with a consistency of thin mud. It can be sprayed, dipped, or even painted on with little or no waste. This slurry composition has unique boron diffusion properties. Elimination of FeB. Existing boronization methods produce iron boride, both FeB and Fe2B. The FeB molecule Fig. 1 — Third-party application validation in the oil and gas industry on defined components for the Blaze process. 7
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