A new approach to improve some properties of wire arc additively manufactured stainless steel components: Simultaneous homogenization and boriding

Arc-directed energy deposition (Arc-DED), also commonly referred to as wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), is a cost-effective 3D metal additive manufacturing process in which large metallic parts can be produced due to high deposition rates. Stainless steels, widely used in many areas due to their excellent corrosion resistance, are one of the most produced materials by the WAAM method. However, stainless steels have low surface hardness. Moreover, the high heat input in the deposition process in WAAM sometimes causes the mechanical properties of stainless steels to be lower than casting or wrought stainless steels. These considerations limit the use of WAAM stainless steels, especially in abrasive environments. For this purpose, 307ER stainless steel produced by WAAM method was subjected to homogenization and boriding process simultaneously at 1000 °C for 1 h and the effect of applied heat treatment on microstructure, phase components, hardness and wear resistance was investigated. The results showed that with the boriding process, a 30 μm thick boride layer consisting of FeB, Fe2B, Cr5B3 and MnB phases with a hardness of 21.5 GPa and a modulus of elasticity of 310 GPa was formed in addition to the dissolution of interdendritic regions in the as-built structure and a complete homogenization of the microstructure. Furthermore, owing to the high hardness and elasticity modulus in addition to the boride layer's self-lubrication properties obtained on the WAAM samples surfaces, 31.84 times and 8.06 times increased in wear resistance at room temperature and 500 °C temperature, respectively, and a decrease in friction coefficients was obtained. Moreover, the results showed that the simultaneous homogenization and boriding processes of stainless steels produced by the WAAM method would improve their microstructure and tribological behavior. This way, these steels can be used in wider areas of application. •GMAW-based WAAM ER307 stainless steel components were successfully manufactured.•Boride layers improved the surface hardness of WAAM ER307 up to 7 times.•The self-lubrication properties of borides provided lower COF at 25 °C and 500 °C.•Increase in surface hardness resulted in an increase in wear resistance up to 500 °C.•Boriding has the potential to open up new possibilities for additive-manufactured metals.