STUDY ON VANADIUM CARBIDE COATING FORMATION ON AISI L2 STEEL BY THERMO-REACTIVE DEPOSITION TECHNIQUE

The possibility of vanadium carbide coating formation on aisi l2 steel was studied in molten salt bath containing 33 wt% naci- 67 wt% caci2. in this research, the effects oftime, temperature and bath composition ongro wing layer thickness were studied. the vanadium carbide coating treatment was performed in the naci-caci2 bath at 1173,1273 and 1373 k temperaturesfor 3,6,9 hours and in bath containing 5,10,15,25 wt%ferrovanadium. the presence of vc formed on the surface of the steel substrate was confirmed by optical microscopy, scanning electronmicroscopy (sem) and x-ray diffraction analysis. the layer thickness of vanadium carbide and surface hardness ranged between 4.8 to 25.7 um and 2645 to 3600 hv, respectively. the kinetics of layer growth was analyzed by measuring the depth ofvanadium carbide layer as a function oftime and temperature. the mean activation energy forthe process is estimated to be 133 kj/ mol.