Pack chromising treatment is an environmentally friendly alternative to hard chromium to form wear and corrosion resistant surface layers. In this work, samples of AISI 1060 steel were pack chromised for 6 and 9 h at 1000 and 1050°C using different activator concentrations. Wear tests were performed in dry conditions and corrosion tests in natural sea water for the pack chromised samples and hard chromium. Pack chromising yielded the formation of layers with high chromium concentrations, high hardness and wear resistance. Increasing activator concentration causes no significant change on the morphology and thickness of the layers. The layers produced at 1050°C yielded only a (Cr,Fe)₂N_1−x phase, and those obtained at 1000°C are composed of a carbide mixture with (Cr,Fe)₂N_1−x. The sample treated at 1050°C for 9 h resulted in an optimum condition by means of better wear resistance and corrosion properties, which were close to that exhibited by the hard chrome, indicating that pack chromising is a promising alternative.

This work presents the performance and polarization studies of a magnesium–antimony liquid metal battery with the use of an in-situ pseudo reference electrode at high operating temperature (ca. 700 °C). Due to the immiscibility of the contiguous salt and metal phases, the battery appears as three distinct layers: (1) positive electrode, (2) electrolyte and (3) negative electrode layers. The configuration of the in-situ reference electrode within the three floating liquid layers is described and is to avoid direct electrical contact/short circuit with the other electrodes. Electrochemical tests, including linear sweep voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic cycling, evaluate the performance of a magnesium–antimony battery under a range of operating temperatures and current densities. Through the polarization studies, the area resistance of the negative and positive electrodes and the overall battery are found to be ca. 0.55, 0.65 and 1.20 Ω cm⁻², respectively. In a typical 1 h charge/discharge per cycle experiment, average voltage efficiencies of ca. 64% are obtained at 60 mA cm⁻² with a slight deterioration after subsequent cycles. In these tests, the half-cell measurements also indicate that the sprayed layer of boron nitride at the reference electrode is chemically stable and shown to be an effective electrical insulator for prolonged operation at high temperature (ca. 700 °C).