Effect of heat treatment on electroless nickel-boron coatings
Electroless nickel-boron coatings

As expected, electroless nickel-boron coatings without special treatment show a metastable structure that does not correspond to that predicted by the nickel-boron phase diagram for these boron contents. This is because the solubility of boron in nickel at room temperature is extremely low, and numerous intermetallic compounds (such as Ni₂B, Ni₃B, Ni₄B₃...) can be formed as a function of the boron content of the mixture . The hardness of these borides, some of which have crystal structures similar to hard phases such as cementite, is high....