Chemicothermal treatment of tool materials

Abstract

Means of increasing the wear resistance of hard alloys, high-speed steel, and high-carbon steel used in cutting tools are considered. Chemicothermal hardening is employed: specifically, diffusional saturation with boron and chromium (chromoboriding) for VK8 sintered tungsten–cobalt alloy and with boron and titanium (titanoboriding) for P6M5 high-speed steel. Attention focuses on VK8 alloy and P6M5 steel because of the increasing industrial use of high-strength, low-wear materials. Their chemical composition and microhardness are investigated; the microhardness of the diffusional coatings obtained is measured. The results indicate that chemicothermal treatment of tool materials is a promising means of improving their strength and performance.