Coating of AISI 8620 steel by boriding process: kinetic modeling, empirical formula and error analysis

The kinetic analysis of the coating of AISI 8620 steel by package boriding process was examined at temperatures of 973, 1173 and 1223 K. The microstructures of the samples were measured with the SEM and phase analysis XRD, and their hardness was measured with the Vickers hardness. The effects of boriding time and boriding temperature on the boride layer thickness were investigated. The influences of boriding time and boriding temperature on the hardness of the coating were determined. The activation energy of coating AISI 8620 steel with a boride layer was calculated. An empirical formula was found to predict the boride layer thickness using experimental data. The differences between the boride layer thicknesses found experimentally and predicted by the empirical formula were examined by error analysis.