Influence of Deep Cryogenic Treatment on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of an Ultrafine-Grained WC-12Co Cemented Carbide

Effect of deep cryogenic treatment （DCT） on the microstructures and mechanical behavior of ultrafine-grained WC-12Co cemented carbide was investigated by using XRD, SEM, and DSC. The phase transformations of pure Co and binder phase Co in cemented carbide were analyzed in detail to correlate the strengthening mechanism with its x -ε, phase transition. The results show that DCT resulted in a slight increase in hardness and bending strength of ultrafine- grained WC-12Co cemented carbide. For the ultrafine-grained cemented carbide after DCT, there is no significant change in the microstructure and the elemental distribution of the cemented carbides, but the fractured morphology shows a feature of plastic deformation. In the cases of pure Co and the binder phase Co in WC-12Co cemented carbide, they exhibit different features of phase transformation. The improvement of mechanical property of cemented carbide can be attributed to the increased amount of ε-Co in WC-12Co composites after DCT.