Induction zone sintering of WC–8Cо hard alloy

Keywords

hard alloy, temperature gradient, sintering, grain size, hardness.

Cite as

Теslia S. Yu., Kucher O. S., Bogomol Yu. I., Loboda P. І., and Solodkyi Ye. V. Induction zone sintering of WC–8Cо hard alloy. Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials. 2023. 59(5), 119-124.

https://doi.org/10.15407/pcmm2023.05.119

Abstract

A new method of the WC–8Co hard alloy sintering is proposed, which consists of sintering a pre-pressed, porous billet moving with a given speed through an induction heating zone of a given temperature. The effect of the sintering temperature in the range of 1200–1380°C on the microstructure, local chemical, and phase composition of the carbide is studied. The induction zone sintering in the presence of a liquid phase does not cause the growth of carbide grains. The grain size of tungsten carbide sintered in the temperature range of 1240–1280°C and travel speed of 3 mm/min decreases from 3.9 μm to 1.9 μm, and an increase in the billet displacement rate from 3 to 6 mm/min promotes the formation of the η-phase, presumably due to a large temperature gradient. The refinement of the structure causes a monotonic increase in the HV1 hardness from 417 to 664.

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