Simultaneous Synthesis and Densification of Wc-xvol.%Co Hard Materials by High-Frequency Induction Heated Combustion

Using a developed high-frequency induction heated combustion method. the simultaneous synthesis and densification of WC-xvol.%Co($0{\leq}x{\leq}20$) hard materials was accomplished using elemental powders of W, C and Co. A complete synthesis and densification of the materials was achieved in one step within a duration of 1min. The final relative densities of the composite were over 98.5% for all cases, under the applied pressure of 60 MPa and the induced current. The hardness of the composites decreases and the fracture toughness increases with increasing cobalt content. As the carbon to tungsten ration increases, the hardness increase, but the fracture toughness decreases. The maximum values for the fracture toughness and hardness are 15.1 $MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$(at 20vol.%Co, W:C=1:1), and 1928 $kg/mm^{2}$(at 5vol.%Co, W:C=1:1.3), respectively. Therefore we concluded that the HFIHCS method. which can produce WC-xvol.%Co within 1 minute in one step is superior to conventional ones.