Production of Mo₂NiB₂ Based Hard Alloys by Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis

Mo-Ni-B-Al as-cast alloys containing 35.5-58.7 wt% Mo, 23.0-57.6 wt% Ni, 3.3-5.2 wt% B, and 2.2-13.5 wt% Al were synthesized by Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis (SHS) using a mixture of MoO₃, NiO, B₂O₃ and Al powders in order to obtain low-cost Mo₂NiB₂ containing hard materials. The first series of experiments were performed using 1.05 times the stoichiometric amount of Al. In the second series of experiments, FactSage thermochemical modeling software was used to minimize Al increasing the Mo2NiB2 formation in the as-cast alloys. The products were characterized by using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-hardness techniques.