Effect of V addition on tribocorrosion wear behavior of boride layer produced on AISI 1040

In this study, the effect of the addition of vanadium (V) on the densification, microstructure, and wear behavior of borosintered powder metallurgy steels was investigated. Ball-milled powders containing 0, 1, 5 and 10 wt.% V were cold-compacted under 200 MPa pressure and then subjected to borosintering at 1100°C for 2 h in ambient air. The characterization of the boride layers formed after borosintering was conducted by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, microhardness tests, nanoindentation, surface roughness measurements, and ball-on-disk-type wear tests. Wear testing was carried out under 10 N load for a total sliding distance of 250 m in ambient air and in a 3.5% sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. While the thickness of the boride layer decreased with increasing V content, its hardness and modulus of elasticity also increased, owing to the formation of additional vanadium boride (VB) and vanadium carbide (V₂C) phases. Wear resistance increased with increasing V content, and the samples tested in 3.5% NaCl displayed lower coefficients of friction and higher wear resistance compared to the samples tested in ambient air. Reduced wear in 3.5% NaCl was attributed to the cooling and lubricant effects provided by the 3.5% NaCl solution.