Comparative Study on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Coarse-grained WC-based Cemented Carbides Sintered with Ultrafine WC or (W+C) as Additives

The effects of ultrafine WC(WC_(UF),0.5μm) or W(1μm) and C(0.3μm)(W+C)_(UF) additives on the densification,microstructure and mechanical properties of coarse-grained cemented carbides were compared systematically.Overall,the cemented carbides with WC_(UF)/(W+C)_(UF) additives are almost fully densification to be higher than 99%,and the average grain size is kept above 2.8μm.The WC_(UF) additive assists grains to(truncated)trigonal prism shape by two dimensional(2D) growth,whereas the(W+C)_(UF) additive assists grains to rounded shape by three dimensional(3D) growth,lowers WC contiguity and increases face-centered-cubic Co.The hardness and bending strength of(75WC_(C)-15WC_(UF))-10Co are 86.6 HRA and 2 272 MPa,respectively,both higher than those of(75WC_(C)-15(W+C)_(UF))-10Co,which could be ascribed to the enhanced densification and unblemished grains.However,the fracture toughness of the(75WC_(C)-15(W+C)_(UF))-10Co is 23.5 MPa·m^(1/2),higher than that of the(75WC_(C)-15WC_(UF))-10Co due to the uniform WC-Co structure and flexible binder phase.

Development of manufacturing technology on WC-Co hardmetals

Hardmetals are tungsten carbide(WC)-based composites,which are made of WC as a hard phase and transition metals such as Co,Fe,or/and Ni as ductile binder matrices.Their properties can be mainly tailored through the grain sizes of the sintered carbides and the amount of metallic binder.As successful tool materials,hardmetals are widely applied in metal cutting,wear applications,chipless forming,stoneworking,wood,and plastic working.In 2017,about two-thirds of tungsten consumption(including recycled materials)were produced for hardmetals in the world.This paper briefly introduces the development of manufacturing technology on WC-Co hardmetals from three aspects:powder preparation,bulk densifica-tion,and performance characterization.Two special WC-Co hardmetals are also described:cobalt-enrichment zone(CEZ)hardmetals,and binderless hardmetals.Furthermore,the development prospects for manufacturing techniques of hardmetals are also presented in the end.