Elaboration of (Steel/Cemented Carbide) Multimaterial by Powder Metallurgy
A steel/cemented carbide couple is selected to generate a tough/hard two layers material. The sintering temperature and composition are chosen according to phase equilibria data. The choice of optimal sintering conditions needs experimental studies. First results evidence liquid migration from the hard layer to the tough one, leading to porosity in the hard region. The study of microstructure evolution during sintering of the tough material (TEM, SEM, image analysis) evidences the coupled mechanisms of pore reduction and WC dissolution, and leads to temperature and time ranges suitable to limit liquid migration. The sintering of the two layer material is then shown to need further compromises to avoid interface crack formation due to differential densification.