Carbon-Coated Nanopowder as Sintering Aid for Water-Atomized Iron Powder

The influence of carbon coating on the nanopowder when used as a sintering aid for water-atomized iron powder is explored. Iron nanopowder without such a coating was used as a reference sintering aid to isolate and depict the influence of the carbon coating. Both nanopowder variants were characterized using XPS and HRTEM, and the results showed a core-shell structure for both nanopowder variants. Iron nanopowder is covered by a 3-4 nm thick iron oxide layer, while the carbon-coated nanopowder is encapsulated with a number of nanometric carbon layers. Thermogravimetry carried out in a pure hydrogen environment shows a multipeak behaviour for carbon-coated nanopowder, while a single peak behaviour is observed for the iron nanopowder. This difference was correlated with chemical analysis. Two types of micro/nanobimodal powders were obtained by mixing the nanopowder with water-atomized iron powder. An improved linear shrinkage was observed when carbon-coated iron nanopowder was added. This can be explained by the reduced surface diffusion in the nanopowder due to the carbon coating, which allows the nanopowder to sinter at higher temperatures and improves densification.

Corrosion resistance evaluation of boron-carbon coating on ASTM A-36 steel

The ASTM A-36 steel is the main alloy, used in the metal-mechanical industry. In the present study, the effect of boron-carbon coating on the hardness and corrosion resistance of the steel ASTM A-36 was reported. Boronizing thermochemical treatment was carried out at 950 °C for 4 h followed by the carburizing process at 930 °C for 6 h. The corrosion study was conducted using the polarization technique (Tafel) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), which employed a fused deposition modeling-based 3D printing electrochemical cell made of polylactic acid (PLA). A commercial platinum foil and an Ag/AgCl (3.5 M KCl) electrode were used as the counter and reference electrode, respectively. The working electrode used an area of 1 cm2 of the sample. Optical microscopic analysis shown that borides formed on the surface of steels has a saw-tooth morphology and a uniform coating with a thickness of about 60 µm in both samples. The carburizing over boride promoted the formation of coatings on the outermost layer of the samples with a thickness of about 17 µm over the boride layer. Boride formation was verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicating only the formation of the Fe2B phase. Results showed that boride samples exhibited inferior corrosion resistance compared to original samples, but after carburizing, an outer layer was formed, with the hardness and corrosion resistance like that of the original sample.