Structure, Mechanical and Tribotechnical Properties of Glass-to-Metal Composites Based on Iron–Carbon Alloys

Principle mechanical and tribotechnical properties of glass-to-metal iron–carbon alloys with 5% glass modified with boron carbide, copper, and boron nitride additives are investigated. It is shown that the introduction of 2% boron carbide in the starting powder mixture provides a significant increase in the wear resistance and friction coefficient (0.27–0.42), compared to B4C-free materials. The use of hot pressing promotes a sharp increase in the wear resistance, compared to sintered materials, and hardly affects the friction coefficient. The microstructure of glass-to-metal sintered materials has a distinct heterophase character and consists of metal matrix phase based on at least three types of grains (boron–cementite Fe3(B0,7C0,3), lamellar and granular pearlite) and a glass phase, which is distributed in the steel matrix in the form of either thin layer at intergranular boundaries or separate inclusions of irregular shape up to 30–50 μm in size.