Breakthrough in understanding the erosion behavior of borided Inconel 718 alloy: integrating experimental data and statistical analysis approach
Academic Article in Scopus
In this study, novel findings about the behavior of a boride layer on Inconel 718 alloy subjected to erosion wear are presented. The nickel boride layer (~35 ¿m) was obtained using the pulsed-DC powder-pack boriding process (PDCPB) at 950 °C, applying a current intensity of 5 A and inversion cycles of 10 s throughout 1.5 h of exposure. Erosive wear tests were performed varying impact angles (30°, 60°, and 90°) at room temperature (RT) and 400 °C for each impact angle. The borided surface was eroded by SiO2 particles (~120 ¿m), with a total accumulated mass of 2000 g. The results were compared with those obtained from the untreated Inconel 718 alloy (IN718). At RT, the erosion rate for borided Inconel 718 (IN718¿B) was reduced by up to 72%, whereas at 400 °C it was reduced by up to 81%, compared to IN718. This improvement highlights the elevated erosion resistance and thermal stability of the nickel boride layer. Furthermore, the influence of erosion parameters on mass loss was analyzed statistically. Particularly, the Erosive Particle Mass (EPM) in time interval was the most influential independent variable, accounting for 50% in IN718 and 71% in IN718¿B. Finally, based on the experimental results, empirical equations were developed through statistical analysis with R2¿98% to estimate mass loss within the evaluated parameter range.
