Seed Money Fund

Experiments were performed to determine if microwave heating can be used to apply diffusion coatings to metal alloy parts. In order to maintain a broad scope for this project, three metal alloys were selected which represent materials of interest for future research areas. These alloys included a tool steel (A2), a low-carbon steel (1018), and a nickel-chrome super alloy (625). Three types of diffusion coating processes were chosen: aluminization, chromization, and boronization. Control samples were processed by conventional heating. Aluminum-, chrome-, and boron-based diffusion coatings were successfully created using microwave heating. These microwave coatings show some similarities to the conventionally produced coatings, although significant differences also existed in some cases. Very encouraging results were obtained with the A2 tool steel