VC- and Cr3C2-doped WC–NbC–Co hardmetals

This study compares the microstructure and mechanical properties of plain and 0.9 or 3.6 wt% VC- or Cr₃C₂-doped WC–12 wt% Co hardmetals with 40 wt% NbC, prepared by pulsed electric current sintering (PECS) in the solid state for 4 min at 1240 °C and conventional pressureless liquid phase sintering (CS) for 1 h at 1420 °C. The addition of VC or Cr₃C₂ was found to inhibit grain growth of the residual WC grains, whereas the size of the solid solution (Nb,W,V/Cr)C grains was hardly influenced. The type of grain growth inhibitor and densification temperature however, strongly influenced the composition of the NbC solid solution formed, which was thermodynamically and experimentally assessed.     

Densification, mechanical properties and wear behavior of WC–VC–Co–Al hardmetals

The effect of VC and Al additions on the sintering behavior, hardness, toughness, elastic properties and wear characteristics of WC–10 wt% Co has been studied. The amount of VC in the compositions varied up to 18 wt% and the aluminum contents was fixed at 2 wt% with the purpose to promote the in situ formation of the CoAl intermetallic phase. The specimens were prepared by vacuum sintering in the 1350–1500 °C range during 1 h. The sintered samples densification improved both with the temperature and VC contents up to 13 wt%. The heterogeneous microstructure consisting of WC, (W, V)C_1−x and intermetallic Al₅Co₂ phase indicated that the expected reactive sintering induced by the Co and Al could not be properly controlled due to the large Al particle size used, resulting in isolated aluminum enriched pools. Vickers hardness and toughness followed an antagonistic behavior with values ranging from 12.8–17.5 GPa and 7.7–10.5 MPa m^1/2, respectively. The sliding wear performance evaluation showed that friction decreases with VC addition but it could not be established a tendency for the wear rate coefficient though values obtained allow to consider these experimental compositions as promising wear resistant materials.     

Fracture toughness of coated TiCN–WC–Co cermets with graded composition

Mixed TiCN–WC–Co cermets are developed to improve at the same time toughness and resistance to deformation of materials for cutting tool applications. Moreover, graded materials joining optimum properties according to the functional part of the tool are elaborated. To this end, TiCN–WC–Co cermets are interesting because they develop a WC–Co layer at the surface during the sintering. This tough layer at the surface limits the crack propagation that can lead to the rupture of the tool. Such materials show a good resistance to the deformation in the bulk and a good toughness at the surface, where the cracks are initiated upon machining. Cutting tools are often coated by CVD to improve the wear resistance. This paper proposes a method to measure the toughness K_IC at high temperature by using this CVD coating for initial crack formation. The coating thickness is the precrack length of traditional K_IC measurements. Samples are fractured by three point bend tests. The rupture stress is measured by Weibull statistics. This method is particularly interesting for graded structure materials where the influence of surface layers on toughness must be estimated. The comparison between cermets with and without WC–Co layer shows an improvement of 28% of the toughness when the layer is present. The possible bias of internal stresses on the results is discussed.     

Powder injection molding of WC–8%Co tungsten cemented carbide

An improved wax-based multi-component binder was developed for powder injection molding of tungsten cemented carbide. A critical powder loading of 65 vol.% and an ideal rheological properties were obtained by the feedstock based on the binder. An ideal control of carbon content was achieved by thermal debinding in 75 vol.%N₂/25 vol.%H₂ atmosphere, which balanced the decarbonization effect of H₂ and the carburation effect of N₂. Solvent debinding followed by subsequent thermal debinding could substantially increase the debinding rate, and it is more flexible and adjustable to debinding atmosphere. The transverse rupture strength, hardness and density of the as-sintered specimens made by an optimized powder injection molding process were 2500 MPa, HRA90 and 14.72 g cm⁻³ respectively. Good shape retention and ±0.02 mm dimension deviation were achieved.     

Effect of Mo addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultra-fine grade TiC–TiN–WC–Mo2C–Co cermets

Effect of Mo addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultra-fine grade TiC–TiN–WC–Mo₂C–Co cermets was studied in this work. Mechanical properties such as transverse rupture strength, fracture toughness and hardness were also measured. Results show that the microstructure exists in black core/grey rim structure and white core/grey rim structure, and the microstructure has an obvious trend to become finer with the increase of molybdenum content. When the added Mo exceeds 10%, ultra-fine TiC-based cermet with an average particle size of less than 0.5 μm is obtained, because of the formation of a Mo-rich rim and the improvement of the wettability between ceramic phase and metallic phase. The transverse rupture strength increases with the increase of Mo content, and the maximum values of the hardness and the fracture toughness were found with 10 wt% and 5 wt% Mo addition, respectively.     

Composition and mechanical properties of AlC, AlN and AlCN thin films obtained by r.f. magnetron sputtering

Aluminum carbide (Al-C), aluminum nitride (Al-N), and aluminum carbonitride (Al-C-N) thin films were grown onto Si [100] substrates by r.f. reactive magnetron sputtering at 400 °C. The Al-N coatings were obtained by sputtering of Al (99.9%) target in Ar/N₂ atmosphere and the Al-C and Al-C-N by co-sputtering of a binary (50% Al, 50% C) target in argon and in Ar/N₂ mixture, respectively. The d.c. bias voltage was varied between 0 and − 150 V. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the mechanical properties by nanoindentation. The structure of the films has been determined by XRD, which shows that amorphous films are formed in all cases. The variation of polarization bias voltage produced chemical differences in the films. As the bias voltage is increased, the Al content is reduced in all three materials. The nitrogen content also varied between 10 and 14 at.% for Al-N coatings, remaining practically constant (21 at.%) for the Al-C-N films. The Berkovich hardness results were 7.0, 17.2 and 9.2 GPa for Al-C, Al-N, and Al-C-N films, respectively.     

An experimental study of the sintering of nanocrystalline WC–Co powders

Since nanocrystalline WC–Co powder was produced over a decade ago, the sintering of nanocrystalline powders remains a technological challenge. The goal of sintering nanocrystalline powders is not only to achieve full densification but also to retain nanocrystalline grain sizes. This is difficult because of rapid grain growth at high temperatures. Previous studies on the sintering of nanocrystalline WC–Co have shown that grains grow rapidly during the early stage of sintering. But there are few studies on the mechanisms of grain growth and densification during this stage. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on grain growth and densification of nanocrystalline WC–Co powders during heat-up at equilibrium solid-state temperatures. The results have shown that nanocrystalline WC grains grow rapidly during this period concurrently with rapid densification. The rapid densification and grain growth are partially attributed to the surface energy anisotropy of tungsten carbide. The effects of vanadium carbide on grain growth at solid state during heat-up are also discussed.     

Cast structure and mechanical properties of Zr–Cu–Ni–Al bulk glassy alloys

Homogeneous melting without any nuclei was performed using the cold copper nozzle arc casting furnace and ladle arc-melt type furnace. Casting of a bulk glassy alloy can be achieved by using a copper nozzle arc casting furnace, which eliminates nucleation site (cold spot) for crystallization. Besides, the pouring molten alloy was melted homogeneously by arc heating before casting into the mold, similar to a pseudo float melting state. To produce a bulk glassy alloy sheet, a combination of the ladle arc-melt type furnace and squeeze cast method was used. Using this method, we succeeded in producing Zr₅₀Cu₃₀Ni₁₀Al₁₀ bulk glassy alloys in a rod shape by the former method and in a sheet form by the later method. Tensile strength of the Zr₅₀Cu₃₀Ni₁₀Al₁₀ bulk glassy alloy sheet is about 1900 MPa and the plasticity of the alloy at room temperature is significantly improved by cold rolling.     

Improving the uniformity in mechanical properties of a sintered Ti compact using a trace amount of internal lubricant

Large sintered powder compacts are likely to be associated with variability in mechanical properties; an improvement of the uniformity of the mechanical properties of sintered powder compacts is important for powder metallurgy. In this work 0.3–1 wt.% stearic acid (SA) or magnesium stearate (MgSt) was added to a 40 mm diameter Ti powder compacts with height to depth (H/D) ratio of unity to give a more uniform green density. Tensile test pieces were cut from selected positions in each sintered compact to obtain the distribution of mechanical properties. Results revealed that variations in mechanical properties are due to the pore morphology with respect to size, aspect ratio and preferred orientation. A trace amount of lubricant significantly improves the uniformity in mechanical properties by optimizing the porosity distribution and minimizing the pore size and aspect ratio of pores after sintering. Such an effect was achieved by reducing the initial green density inhomogeneity and the stress induced by the mismatch of sintering shrinkage. However a relatively high 1 wt.% SA addition with a large particle size created burnt-off pores in the top and bottom zones. MgSt is not recommended since it significantly increases the oxygen content. An addition of 0.6 wt.% SA is the best choice due to the even pore distribution, small pore size and acceptable level of oxygen pick up.     

On the contiguity of carbide phase in WC–Co hardmetals

In this paper the analysis of dependence of carbide phase contiguity in WC–Co hardmetals on the variation coefficient of WC grain size distribution is carried out. The relationship proposed is

C=1−V_Co^0.644exp(0.391V)

Here C is the contiguity, V_Co is the volume fraction of binder and V is the coefficient of variation. This relation is obtained on the basis of experimental data available in the literature. The basic meaning of this model is that with its help one more microstructural parameter V is introduced explicitly. This parameter essentially affects the mechanical behaviour of WC–Co hardmetals.     

Effect of WC particle size on the microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of WC–(W, Ti, Ta) C–6 wt% Co cemented carbides

This study deals with the microstructure and mechanical properties of WC–(W, Ti, Ta) C–9 vol.% Co cemented carbides fabricated by conventional sintering. The conventional WC particles of 4 μm size and ultrafine particles of 0.2 μm were introduced in the system with varying ratio. The ratios of conventional WC particles to ultrafine WC particles were 2:1, 1:1, and 1:2. The microstructures of sintered WC–(W, Ti, Ta) C–9 vol.% Co cemented carbides were sensitively dependent on the ratio of conventional WC particles to ultrafine WC particles. The rim phase increased with the increase in the amount of ultrafine particles. Hardness of WC–(W, Ti, Ta) C–9 vol.% Co cemented carbide increased with increase in the amount of rim phase and decrease in the average grain size of WC particles. The bending strength showed the similar trend of the hardness. The fracture morphologies are reported. The fracture behavior changed from mixed mode to transgranular fracture mode, when the ratio of conventional WC particles to ultrafine WC particles was changed from 2:1 to 1:2.     

Liquid phase sintering of functionally graded WC–Co composites

Functionally graded cemented tungsten carbide (WC–Co) is an example of functionally graded materials (FGM) in which mechanical properties are optimized by the presence of microstructural gradients such as cobalt gradient and grain size differences within the microstructure. In particular, a cobalt gradient is preferred. However, the manufacture of FGM WC–Co with a cobalt gradient is difficult because the flow of the liquid phase during liquid phase sintering (LPS) would eliminate any initial cobalt gradient built into the powder compacts. In this paper, different factors, which can be used to influence the migration of liquid during sintering, are investigated. These factors include gradients in grain size, carbon and cobalt content, and sintering time. It is shown that a difference in particle size may induce a step-wise profile of cobalt concentration. Initial carbon content differences, however, can be used to obtain a gradient of cobalt during sintering. The effects of these factors are explained based on the roles of capillary force and phase reactions.     

Application of a wax-based binder in PIM of WC–TiC–Co cemented carbides

A wax-based binder was developed for powder injection molding of WC–TiC–Co cemented carbides. The critical powder loading and the rheologic behavior of the feedstock were determined. It was found that the critical powder loading could achieve up to 62.5 vol% and the feedstock exhibited a pseudo-plastic flow behavior. The injection molding, debinding and sintering processes were studied. The dimensional deviation of the sintered samples could be controlled in the range of ±0.2% with the optimized processing parameters. The mechanical properties were better than or equivalent to those of the same alloy made by the conventional press-sintering process.     

Tensile behavior change depending on the varying tungsten content of W–Ni–Fe alloys

Tungsten heavy alloys (WHAs) are metal–metal composites consisting of nearly pure spherical tungsten particles embedded in a Ni–Fe–W or Ni–Co–W or Ni–Cu–W ductile matrix. In this dual phase alloy, there are several complicated relations between the ductile matrix and hard tungsten particles. The aim of this research was to examine the effect of varying tungsten content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of tungsten heavy alloys. The microstructural parameters (grain size, connectivity, contiguity and solid volume fraction) were measured and were found to have a significant effect on the mechanical properties of tungsten-based heavy alloys. The result shows that the binding strength between the W and the matrix phase has a major influence on the ductility of tungsten-based alloys. The larger this binding force is, the better the ductility is.     

Study on the properties of Sn–9Zn–xCr lead-free solder

The influences of different Cr content to lead (Sn)–Zn solder were investigated. Sn–9Zn–xCr shows finer and more uniform microstructure than Sn–9Zn. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) results show that adding Cr significantly improves the oxidation resistance of Sn–9Zn solder, and reduces the thickness of oxidation film of Sn–9Zn–xCr solder. When Cr content is 0.1%, the Sn–9Zn–0.1Cr solder have the best oxidation resistance. In addition, the effect of Cr addition on the wettability, melting point and mechanical properties of Sn–9Zn solder was discussed.     

Sn effect on microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrafine eutectic Ti–Fe–Sn alloys

Microstructural investigations on ultrafine eutectic (Ti₆₅Fe₃₅)_100−xSn_x alloys with x = 0, 1 and 3 at.% reveal that additional Sn is effective to control formation of the micron-scale dendrites and to decrease the length-scale of lamellar spacing with enhancing macroscopic plasticity at room temperature compression. Hence, it is possible to understand the influence of the microstructural change on the plasticity of the ultrafine eutectic Ti–Fe–Sn alloys.     

热变形对TC11-Ti2AlNb电子束焊接件力学性能的影响

本文应用纳米压痕和维氏硬度的方法表征了TC11/Ti2AlNb电子束焊接焊缝区域在不同状态下的硬度和弹性模量分布,结合组织的演变分析了微纳米尺度的力学的变化。结果表明：在TC11合金的热影响区,马氏体α"相的分解是显微硬度降低的主要原因;而在焊缝以及Ti2AlNb热影响区区域,相的析出导致了显微硬度的增加。通过热变形以及锻后热处理都能够提高焊接区域的弹性模量。相比较而言,焊接态的焊缝弹性模量只有92GPa;而在变形和热处理后,弹性模量的值达到了130GPa。通过拉伸实验结果分析,焊缝在变形及热处理后屈服强度得到了较大提高,这和焊缝区域硬度和弹性模量的变化趋势一致。     

The origin of non-uniform microstructure and its effects on the mechanical properties of a friction stir processed Al–Mg alloy

The microstructure of the stirred zone (SZ) resulting from friction stir processing or welding (FSP/FSW) has usually been assumed to be uniform when discussing the mechanical properties. However, numerous works have indicated that the fine-grained microstructures in the SZ were non-uniform, with precipitate, texture and grain size gradients caused by the severe plastic deformation and heat distribution. In this work commercial aluminum alloy 5083-H112 was subjected to FSP and fine-grained microstructures with an average grain sizes of 2.7–13.4 μm were obtained by controlling the FSP conditions. The stress–strain curves exhibited stepped yield point elongation, which was suggested to be associated with these characteristic non-uniform microstructures. Tensile tests indicated that the Hall–Petch relationship held in this FSP alloy when taking account of the average grain size. Toughness analysis indicated that the optimum toughness was anticipated to be obtained around a grain size of 1 μm for this FSP alloy.