Effect of Boron Additions on the Microstructural Evolution and Properties of Fe-Mo-Cu-Ni-C Sintered Steel

The effects of different boron (B) additions from 0 to 0.5 wt.% on the microstructure and properties of Fe-Mo-Cu-Ni-xB-C powder metallurgy (PM) steels were investigated in this work. The results indicated that the ferrite phase quantity decreased and disappeared, Ni/Cu became more homogeneous, and M₂B phase formed, with the addition of B. The density and hardness of the sintered steels monotonously increased with increasing B content, whereas the tensile strength and impact toughness first increased and then decreased. The tensile strength of the steels reached a maximum value of 1097 MPa at a 0.2% B content, whereas the impact toughness reached a maximum value of 25.7 J/cm² at a 0.1% B content and then sharply decreased when the B content exceeded 0.2%. Frictional wear experiments showed that the weight loss of the steels decreased with an increasing B content under low load conditions (100 N), and the lowest weight loss of 0.043 g occurred at a 0.2% B content. Under high load conditions (200 N), the 0.1% B content steel saw the lowest weight loss 0.075 g, exhibiting excellent wear resistance, but the abrasive resistance of the steels decreased with a further increase in the B content due to the germination of microcracks and large spalling caused by the high hardness and brittleness.