Spark Plasma Sintering and Hot Pressing Sintering of Nanocrystalline WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC

WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC nanocrystalline powders were sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot press sintering (HPS), and the microstructure and properties were compared. Results show that dense WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC can be obtained by SPS in several minutes when the sintering temperature is $>1200^{\circ}C$. Sintered at a temperature of $1300^{\circ}C$ the sample prepared by SPS for 3 minutes has higher density, finer grains and better properties than that prepared by HPS for 60 minutes. SPS can be used to prepare nanocrystalline WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC with improved properties when suitable sintering parametesr are chosen.