Abstract
The addition of boron in just a few parts per million can influence the hardenability of steel, provided it remains in solid solution. To protect boron from forming nitrides, titanium and aluminium which have a strong affinity for nitrogen are added in optimised proportions. The amount of soluble boron in such multicomponent systems can be estimated using commercial software available based on thermodynamic databases. Alternatively, the so called simultaneous and sequential methods permit the soluble boron concentration to be estimated using solubility products. The reliability of these methods has been investigated and compared with a different approach, the stepwise method based on the solubility product of various nitrides under equilibrium conditions.
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