Hardening of steel by alloying in a relativistic electron beam

The possibility was demonstrated of hardening a steel surface layer by alloying it using the energy of relativistic electrons. Investigations were made of how the structure, hardness, and depth of the hardened layer depend on the processing regime and on the initial temperature of the steel in the case of alloying with boron carbide and with Cr+C and Cr+B₄C mixtures. The greatest hardening was achieved by alloying with a mixture of Cr and B₄C powders. This was due to a higher volume fraction of the second phase in the layer and to the precipitation of chromium carboborides. Several types of alloying utilizing Cr+B₄C and containing additional agents and modifiers were developed on the basis of the data obtained.Institute of Hardening Physics and Materials Research, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 57–63, March, 1993.