The present invention relates to a thermoelectric alloy and a method for producing the same. A starting material is firstly provided, and an oxidation process is performed to the starting material to obtain an oxidized material composition. Then, the oxidized material composition and a carburizing agent are added into a quartz tube, and a sealing process is performed to the quartz tube. And then, the sealed quartz tube is subjected to a carburization process, thereby obtaining the thermoelectric alloy with excellent thermoelectric figure-of-merit.

Disclosed is a method for surface treatment of a steel component, providing high resistance to wear and corrosion, including nitriding or nitrocarburising to form a compound layer with a thickness of at least 8 micrometers made up of iron nitrides having phases and/or , oxidizing to generate a layer of oxides with a thickness of 0.1-3 micrometers, and soaking in an impregnation bath during at least 5 minutes at room temperature, the bath being made up of at least 70 wt %, 1%, of a solvent made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons formed by a C9 to C17 alkane fraction, 10 to 30 wt %, 1%, of at least one paraffin oil formed by a C16 to C32 alkane fraction, and at least one additive such as a synthetic phenolic additive with a concentration of 0.01 to 3 wt %, 0.1%.

The present invention relates to a thermoelectric alloy and a method for producing the same. A starting material is firstly provided, and an oxidation process is performed to the starting material to obtain an oxidized material composition. Then, the oxidized material composition and a carburizing agent are added into a quartz tube, and a sealing process is performed to the quartz tube. And then, the sealed quartz tube is subjected to a carburization process, thereby obtaining the thermoelectric alloy with excellent thermoelectric figure-of-merit.

Chain element (2), particularly a chain pin (4) for joining at least two chain links (3), which element is formed from a base material (5) containing carbon, particularly steel, characterized in that it has a surface layer (7) containing boron and vanadium, wherein the surface layer (7) is produced by a method according to which, in a first method step, an intermediate layer (6) containing carbon and vanadium is formed by at least one measure for the diffusion of vanadium into surface regions close to the surface of the base material (5) and, in a subsequent second method step, the surface layer (7) is formed by the transformation of the intermediate layer (6) by at least one measure for the diffusion of boron into the intermediate layer (6).

A chain element (2), in particular a chain pin (4), for joining at least two chain links (3), characterized in that it comprises a surface layer (5) containing boron and vanadium, formed by at least one step of diffusing boron and vanadium in the areas of the chain element (2) which are close to the surface. The surface layer (5) containing boron and vanadium is formed by boriding and subsequently vanadizing a substrate material having a carbon content of 0.60 wt.-% to 1.0 wt.-%.

A carburized steel composition of the present invention comprises: silicon (Si) in an amount of about 0.7 to 1.3 wt %, nickel (Ni) in an amount of about 0.15 to 0.5 wt %, chromium (Cr) in an amount of about 2.0 to 2.8 wt %, molybdenum (Mo) in an amount of about 0.15 to 0.5 wt %, vanadium (V) in an amount of about 0.02 to 0.1 wt % and nitrogen (N) in an amount of about 0.01 to 0.02 wt %, and iron (Fe) constituting the remaining balance of the carburized steel composition, all the wt % based on the total weight of the carburized steel composition.