The improvement of wear characteristics on 316L stainless steel by dual surface treatment method

Abstract

Stainless steel is used widespread in various industries, but it has poor wear resistance. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the wear resistance of enhanced surface of 316L stainless steel by applying the combination of surface treatments that consist of shot blasting followed by paste boronizing. Glass beads with diameter 250 microns and the blasting pressure of 6 bar has been used as the shot material in conducting shot blasting process. Paste boronizing process was conducted at temperature 950°C for 8 hours soaking. Data were collected and analyzed which concentrating on the samples’ microstructure, microhardness and wear evaluation. Shot blasting improves the case depth of boride layers formed after performing paste boronizing by boosting the boron diffusion owing to the grain refinement created by shot blasting. The ultimate combination of shot blasting and paste boronizing parameters enhance the case depth of the smooth and compact boride layers with high boron content. The hardness performance increase 624% compared to untreated 316L stainless steel which also highly improve the wear resistance of the material. In this investigation, these dual processes of surface treatment which are shot blasting and paste boronizing can be applied in fabricating the improved 316L stainless steel for industrial usages.