scholarly journals Effects of Cr3C2, VC, and TaC on Microstructure, WC Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Ultrafine WC–10 wt. % Co Cemented Carbides

Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1211
Author(s):  
Chao Yin ◽  
Jianming Ruan ◽  
Yong Du ◽  
Jianzhan Long ◽  
Yingbiao Peng ◽  
...  

In this study, the effects of Cr3C2, VC, and TaC on microstructure, WC grain morphology and mechanical properties of WC–10 wt. % Co ultrafine cemented carbides were investigated. The experimental results showed that WC grains size decreased and size distribution became narrow by adding Cr3C2, VC, and TaC. The inhibition efficiency was in the order of VC > Cr3C2 > TaC. Cr3C2 addition would induce triangular prism grains and Co phase was strengthened by Cr3C2, resulting in the enhancement of transverse rupture strength (TRS) and impact toughness. WC morphologies in cemented carbides with VC addition were triangular prisms with multi-steps in basal and prismatic planes due to anisotropic growth. The multi-steps in basal and prismatic planes led to low TRS and fracture toughness. The inhibition mechanism of TaC is to reduce the surface energy of WC and slow down the solution/re-precipitation rate at the WC/Co interfaces by adsorbing on the surface of WC grains. The sample with 0.8 wt. % Cr3C2 had excellent comprehensive mechanical properties. Its Vickers hardness, fracture toughness, TRS and impact toughness were 1620 kg/mm2, 9.94 MPa·m1/2, 3960 MPa and 50.4 J/m2, respectively. In summary, Cr3C2 is the first choice as the grain growth inhibitors (GGI) for the preparation of ultrafine cemented carbides.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1551
Author(s):  
Chao Yin ◽  
Yingbiao Peng ◽  
Jianming Ruan ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Ren Zhang ◽  
...  

In this paper, the influences of Cr3C2/VC content on WC grain size, WC grain shape and mechanical properties of WC–6 wt. % Co cemented carbides were investigated. The results showed that the grain size first rapidly decreased and then slightly decreased with the increasing Cr3C2/VC content, and VC led to finer grain size and narrower size distribution. HRTEM/EDS analysis of the WC/Co interface indicates that the segregation concentration of V is much larger than that of Cr, which may be a strong response to the higher inhibition efficiency of VC. The addition of Cr3C2 induced triangular prism shape WC grains while VC generated stepped triangular prism grains. Despite the grain growth inhibitor (GGI) mechanisms of Cr3C2/VC have been extensively studied in the literature, the doping amount, especially the doping limit, has not been systematically investigated. In this work, the saturated solubilities of Cr and V in cobalt binder phase along with carbon content hare been predicted based on thermodynamic calculations. Based on the theoretical calculations, the doping amount of Cr3C2/VC is designed to be gradually increasing until more or less over their maximum solubilities in the binder phase, thereby investigating the subsequent microstructure and mechanical properties. When the doping of Cr3C2/VC exceeds the maximum solubility in Co phase, Co-rich Cr-carbides and Co-deficient V-carbides would form respectively, which were detrimental to the transverse rupture strength (TRS) and impact toughness. The hardness increased with the increasing Cr3C2/VC content, while the fracture toughness decreased with the increasing Cr3C2/VC content. The TRS initially enhanced and then declined, but the stepped triangular prism shape grains and low fraction of WC/Co interface in WC–6Co–VC cemented carbide led to a more pronounced decline in the TRS. The sample with 0.6 wt. % Cr3C2 addition had good comprehensive mechanical properties, its hardness, fracture toughness and TRS were 1880 kg/mm2, 9.32 MPa·m1/2 and 3450 MPa, respectively.


2012 ◽  
Vol 625 ◽  
pp. 304-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai Zhou Yu ◽  
Wen Jun Liu ◽  
Lian Ying ◽  
Min You

Four series of cermets with the SiC whisker content between 0 and 1.0 wt.% were prepared by vacuum sintering. The transverse rupture strength (TRS), hardness (HRA) and fracture toughness (KIC) were also measured. The SiC whiskeraddition was located at the grain boundaries, which prevented grain boundary migration and restrained the grain growth. However, an increasing SiC whisker content decreased the wettability of the binder on the Mo2FeB2 hard phase. The highest TRS and fracture toughness was found for the cermets with 0.5 wt.% SiC whisker addition, whereas the cermets without SiC whisker addition exhibited the maximum hardness.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minai Zhang ◽  
Zhun Cheng ◽  
Jingmao Li ◽  
Shengguan Qu ◽  
Xiaoqiang Li

In this paper, WC-10Ni3Al cemented carbides were prepared by the powder metallurgy method, and the effects of ball-milling powders with two different organic solvents on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cemented carbides were studied. We show that the oxygen in the organic solvent can be absorbed into the mixed powders by ball-milling when ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is used as a ball-milling suspension. This oxygen leads to the formation of α-Al2O3 during sintering, which improves the fracture toughness, due to crack deflection and bridging, while the formation of η-phase (Ni3W3C) inhibits the grain growth and increases the hardness. Alternatively, samples milled using cyclohexane (C6H12) showed grain growth during processing, which led to a decrease in hardness. Therefore, the increase of oxygen content from using organic solvents during milling improves the properties of WC-Ni3Al composites. The growth of WC grains can be inhibited and the hardness can be improved without loss of toughness by self-generating α-Al2O3 and η-phase (Ni3W3C).


2020 ◽  
Vol 837 ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
Ai Jun Liu ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Ning Liu ◽  
Ke Bei Chen ◽  
Hai Dong Yang

Effect of Ti (C,N) based cermets granule on the microstructure, mechanical properties, sintering and fracture behavior of Ti (C,N) based cermets was investigated. Results show that the Ti (C,N) based cermets granules distribute in the matrix homogeneously. A nanoindentation study was performed on hard phase and binder phase in the matrix and granule. With the increase of granules content, sintering properties is worse. With the increase of granules content, transverse rupture strength (TRS) and relative density decrease gradually, while the hardness has an opposite trend. The fracture toughness increases firstly with increasing granule, and then decreases with the further increase of granules. Higher fracture toughness of the cermets is mainly owing to the crack branch and higher fracture energy of coarse granule.


Author(s):  
Min-Chul Kim ◽  
Ki-Hyoung Lee ◽  
Bong-Sang Lee ◽  
Whung-Whoe Kim

Demands of RPV materials with higher strength and toughness are rising to increase the power capacity and the operation life of nuclear power plants. The ASME SA508 Gr.4N specification can give a superior toughness and strength to the commercial low alloy steels such as SA508 Gr.3. However, the SA508-Gr.4N steels have not yet been used commercially due to a lack of information of the productivity and the age related properties. While the irradiation embrittlement studies are going-on, the current paper focused on the effects of alloying elements such as Ni, Cr and Mo on the fracture mechanical properties of the SA508 Gr.4N low alloy steels. Various model alloys were fabricated by changing the contents of alloying elements based on the composition range of the ASME specification. Tensile properties, Charpy impact toughness and fracture toughness of the model alloys were evaluated and those properties were discussed with the microstructural characteristics of each alloy. The strengths of the alloys were increased with increase of the Ni and Mo contents while there was no remarkable change of the yield strength with the Cr addition. The Charpy impact and fracture toughness were considerably improved with the increase of Ni, Cr contents. The Mo addition did not change the toughness properties significantly. The Cr contents were more effective on the fracture toughness through changing the carbides precipitation characteristics and the Ni contents were effective on the Charpy impact toughness through changing the effective grain size.


2013 ◽  
Vol 589-590 ◽  
pp. 584-589
Author(s):  
Hui Jun Zhou ◽  
Chuan Zhen Huang ◽  
Bin Zou ◽  
Han Lian Liu ◽  
Hong Tao Zhu ◽  
...  

In this study, titanium carbonitride (Ti(C,N)) based cermets were prepared by submicron particles, sintered in a vacuum and hot-pressing furnace. And the effect of different ball-milling time (36 h, 48 h, 60 h and 72 h, respectively, mostly aimed for mixing) on the mechanical properties of Ti(C,N)-based cermets, including transverse rupture strength (TRS), Vickers hardness (HV20), fracture toughness (KIC) and microstructure were investigated. The results showed that the TRS, hardness and fracture toughness were all improved with an increase in ball-milling time (not more than 60 h). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations on the microstructure of cermets with different ball-milling time revealed that the compound powders were not very well-distributed as a whole and there were coarse hard phase grains, but the microstructure was very homogeneous in parts, and the microstructure of cermets with a ball-milling time of 60 h is relatively more homogeneous. So a refinement to Ti(C,N) raw particles is needed in later studies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 815 ◽  
pp. 233-239
Author(s):  
Xue Quan Liu ◽  
Cun Guang Ding ◽  
Chang Hai Li ◽  
Yi Li ◽  
Li Xin Li ◽  
...  

A fibrous monolith cemented carbide with WC-6Co as cell and WC-20Co as cell boundaries was produced through hot co-extrusion process in this paper. The density, hardness, bending strength and fracture toughness of the fibrous monolith cemented carbide were tested, and the fracture and crack propagation were observed by metalloscope and SEM. The results showed that the bending strength and fracture toughness of the fibrous monolith cemented carbides was remarkably improved 71.91% and 45.7% respectively, while the hardness was slightly decreased 1% compared with WC-6Co composites. It is the reason that the tougher shell WC-20Co with higher bending strength and fracture toughness can absorb more fracture energy, which can slow down and prevent the crack propagating from brittle core WC-6Co.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1088 ◽  
pp. 115-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryoichi Furushima ◽  
Kiyotaka Katou ◽  
Koji Shimojima ◽  
Hiroyuki Hosokawa ◽  
Akihiro Matsumoto

WC-FeAl composites were fabricated by vacuum sintering technique from mixture of WC and FeAl powders containing various oxygen content. Mechanical properties such as hardness, fracture toughness and transverse rupture strength were influenced by the oxygen content in the powders. Control of the oxygen content was succeeded by changing the powder preparation process. Contrary to expectations, the reduction of oxygen content led to degrade the fracture toughness and transverse rupture strength of the composites. This result was attributed to the microstructural change in the sintered composite. The sintered composite of lower oxygen content exhibited WC grain growth or inhomogeneous microstructure, which can be the cause of degradation of those mechanical properties. It was concluded that the oxygen content was one of the key factors to influence the microstructure or mechanical properties of WC-FeAl composites.


2017 ◽  
Vol 726 ◽  
pp. 292-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Wu ◽  
Shao Cun Liu ◽  
Xiu Rong Jiang

The microstructures of the prepared Ti(C, N)-based cermets with various ratios of Co to Ni+Co were studied using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical properties such as transverse rupture strength (TRS), fracture toughness (K1C) and hardness (HRA) were also measured. The results showed that when Ni was partly replaced by Co, the core size of hard particle and the thickness of rim phase changed. With the increasing of the ratio of Co to Ni+Co, the porosity of the cermets increased gradually, the fracture toughness of the cermets decreased gradually, the transverse rupture strength increased firstly and then decreased, the hardness changed slightly。When the ratio of Co to Ni+Co was 0.2, the cermets had better transverse rupture strength (TRS), which was characterized by fine grains and the moderate thickness of rim phase in the binder.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1889
Author(s):  
Yupeng Shen ◽  
Zhifu Huang ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Kemin Li ◽  
Zhen Cao ◽  
...  

Four series of Mo2FeB2-based cermets with Ti contents between 0 wt.% and 1.5 wt.% in 0.5 wt.% increments were prepared by in situ reaction and liquid phase sintering technology. Influences of Ti on microstructure and mechanical properties of cermets were studied. It was found that Ti addition increases formation temperatures of liquid phases in liquid-phase stage. Ti atoms replace a fraction of Mo atoms in Mo2FeB2 and the solution of Ti atoms causes the Mo2FeB2 crystal to be equiaxed. In addition, the cermets with 1.0 wt.% Ti content exhibit the smallest particle size. The solution of Ti atoms in Mo2FeB2 promotes the transformation of Mo2FeB2 particles from elongated shape to equiaxed shape. With Ti content increasing from 0 wt.% to 1.5 wt.%, the hardness and transverse rupture strength (TRS) first increase and then decrease. The maximum hardness and TRS occur with 1.0 wt.% Ti content. However, the fracture toughness decreases as Ti content increases. The cermets with 1.0 wt.% Ti content show excellent comprehensive mechanical properties, and the hardness, fracture toughness, and TRS are HRA 89.5, 12.9 MPa∙m1/2, and 1612.6 MPa, respectively.


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