SIMULATION MODEL OF THE GROWTH KINETICS OF Fe2B LAYERS WITH CONSIDERATION OF THE BORIDE INCUBATION TIME EFFECT

In this work, a mathematical model for simulating the thermochemical boronizing process is presented. The diffusion model used in this paper is based on Fick’s laws by solving the mass balance equation of the (FeB/Fe2B) interface. In this developed model, the effect of boride incubation times during the formation of Fe2B layers on Armco iron was considered. To demonstrate the validity of our calculations, the simulation results are compared with experimentally obtained data on borided Armco iron, which allowed us to verify the validity of the model. Therefore, a good concordance was observed when comparing the experimental parabolic growth constants taken from the literature with our simulated values of the parabolic growth constants from the present diffusion model. From this study, it has been found that the incubation time has a very important influence on the evolution of the kinetics of the boride layers.

Interdiffusion and Reaction between Pure Magnesium and Aluminum Alloy 6061

Using solid-to-solid couples investigation, this study characterized the reaction products evolved and quantified the diffusion kinetics when pure Mg bonded to AA6061 is subjected to thermal treatment at 300°C for 720 hours, 350°C for 360 hours, and 400°C for 240 hours. Characterization techniques include optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Parabolic growth constants were determined for γ-Mg17Al12, β-Mg2Al3, and the elusive ε-phase. Similarly, the average effective interdiffusion coefficients of major constituents were calculated for Mg (ss), γ-Mg17Al12, β-Mg2Al3, and AA6061. The activation energies and pre-exponential factors for both parabolic growth constant and average effective interdiffusion coefficients were computed using the Arrhenius relationship. The activation energy for growth of γ-Mg17Al12 was significantly higher than that for β-Mg2Al3 while the activation energy for interdiffusion of γ-Mg17Al12 was only slightly higher than that for β-Mg2Al3. Comparisons are made between the results of this study and those of diffusion studies between pure Mg and pure Al [1] to examine the influence of alloying additions in AA6061.

Anomalous Kinetics and Regimes of Growth of Intermetallic Phases during Solid State Reactions in Nanosystems

Two interesting features of formation and growth of intermetallic phases in nanoscale solid state reactions will be discussed:Linear-parabolic “normal” growth: it will be summarized that at the very early stages of the growth of an already existing new phase (i.e. when nucleation problems can be neglected) the linear kinetics can be observed due to the so-called diffusion asymmetry. Indeed, it was shown that if the ratio of the diffusion coefficients differ by orders of magnitude in the parent materials (and so also in the new phase), during the growth of a phase bordered by parallel interfaces from the parent phases (normal growth geometry), the shift of the individual interfaces can be linear at the beginning and a transition to the parabolic regime can take place even after a shift of several tens of nanometres. In addition, an AB compound in contact with the pure A and B phases can be dissolved if the diffusion in B is much faster than in either A and AB. This means that the thickness of this phase should decrease, or even can be fully dissolved, at the beginning and only after some time—when the composition in B will be high enough allowing the re-nucleation of this AB phase—will the AB phase grow further.The common problem oftwo stages of solid state reactionswill be revisited: usually the growth can be divided into two stages: a) the formation (nucleation) and lateral growth of the new phases and b) the “normal” growth of the already continuous phase. It was concluded in different previous reviews that in stage b) in the majority of cases the parabolic growth was observed in accordance with the above i) point: the linear-parabolic transition length was typically below 1 μm, which was the lower limit of detection in many previous investigations. On the other hand recently the application of the linear-parabolic growth law for the analysis of experimental data obtained in nanoscale reactions became very popular, not making a clear distinction between a) and b) stages. It will be emphasized here that care should be taken in all cases when the experimental methods applied provide information only about the increase of the amount of the reaction product and there is no informationwhere and howthe new phase (s) grow. We have illustrated in a series of low temperature experiments - where the bulk diffusion processes are frozen - that even in this case a full homogeneous phase can be formed by cold homogenization called Grain Boundary Diffusion Induced Solid State Reaction (GBDIREAC). In this case first the reaction starts by grain-boundary (GB) diffusion and nucleation of the new phase at GBs or their triple junctions, then the growth of the new phase happens by the shift of the new interfaces perpendicular to the original GB. This is a process similar to the diffusion induced grain-boundary motion (DIGM) or diffusion induced recrystallization (DIR) phenomena and in this case the interface shift, at least in the first stage of the reaction until the parent phases have been consumed, can be considered constant. This means that the amount of the phase increases linearly with time, giving a plausible explanation for the linear kinetics frequently observed in stage a).

Tests on High-Pressure Water Rotational Jetting Ventilation Cooling Characteristic

In order to improve the cooling effect and practical applicability of falling temperature technique on high-temperature workplaces, the aeration and cooling principle of the high pressure water rotational jetting ventilation were analysed, and the experimental study was carried out. The results show that water pressure and cooling rate are an approximation of parabolic growth relationship, different structure of jet tube and temperature difference on water and gas also have an obvious effect on the cooling amplitude and air quantity. the guide vanes installed may improve effect of ventilation and cooling the capacity on high pressure water rotational jetting.

Modelling of the Growth of Fe2B Layers in AISI 1018 Steel

In this work, a simulation of the growth kinetics of layers on AISI 1018 steel was done by means of a kinetic model. This model considers a solid diffusion of boron into a semi-infinite medium where the boron solubility in the Fe phase depends on the process temperature. An expression of the parabolic growth constant was then obtained through an application of the mass balance equation at the (/substrate) interface. The present model was validated by the experimental data available in the reference work (I. Campos-Silva et al: Kovove Mater. Vol.47 (2009), p.1-9). A good concordance was observed between the experimental parabolic growth constants and the predicted ones by the model for an upper limit of boron in the phase equal to 8.91 wt.% ( as a fitting parameter of the model). In addition, the generated weight gain was estimated at the surface of the borided AISI 1018 steel as a function of the upper limit of boron in the phase and the temperature.

A Model for the Growth of Fe2B Layers on a Steel Substrate: Effect of the Surface Boron Concentration

The growth kinetics of Fe2B layers formed at the surface of AISI 1018 was simulated. The paste-boriding (with a paste thickness of 4 mm) was applied to produce the Fe2B phase at the material surface; considering four temperatures (1123, 1173, 1223 and 1273 K) for 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 h. The suggested model was based on the mass balance equation at the (Fe2B /substrate) interface. As a fitting parameter of the model, the surface boron concentration (12.16 wt. %B) was obtained in order to predict with a good agreement the experimental parabolic growth constants at the (Fe2B /substrate) interface derived from the literature. An expression of the parabolic growth constant at the (Fe2B /substrate) interface was obtained as a function of the two parameters: and . In addition, a relationship of the Fe2B layer thickness was also deduced that showed a good concordance with the experimental results from the literature.