• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.240-245
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• 2018

This study focuses on the fabrication of a WC/Co composite powder from the oxide of WC/Co hardmetal scrap using solid carbon in a hydrogen gas atmosphere for the recycling of WC/Co hardmetal. Mixed powders are manufactured by mechanically milling the oxide powder of WC-13 wt% Co hardmetal scrap and carbon black with varying powder/ball weight ratios. The oxide powder of WC-13 wt% Co hardmetal scrap consists of $WO_3$ and $CoWO_4$. The mixed powder mechanically milled at a lower powder/ball weight ratio (high mechanical milling energy) has a more rapid carbothermal reduction reaction in the formation of WC and Co phases compared with that mechanically milled at a higher powder/ball weight ratio (lower mechanical milling energy). The WC/Co composite powder is fabricated at $900^{\circ}C$ for 6 h from the oxide of WC/Co hardmetal scrap using solid carbon in a hydrogen gas atmosphere. The fabricated WC/Co composite powder has a particle size of approximately $0.25-0.5{\mu}m$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.642-643
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• 2006

Direct reduction and carburization process was thought one of the best methods to make nano-sized WC powder. The oxide powders were mixed with graphite powder by ball milling in the compositions of WC-5,-10wt%Co. The mixture was heated at the temperatures of $600{\sim}800^{\circ}C$ for 5 hours in Ar. The reaction time of the reduction and carburization was decreased as heating temperatures and cobalt content increased. The mean size of WC/Co composite powders was about 260 nm after the reactions. And the mean size of WC grains in WC/Co composite powders was about 38 nm after the reaction at $800^{\circ}C$ for 5 hours.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.646-647
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• 2006

Nano-sized WC particles in WC/Co composite powders were synthesized by mechanochemical method. The raw powders$(WO_3,\;Co_3O_4,\;VC,\;Cr_3C_2$ and graphite) were mixed by planetary milling for 30 hours. The compositions were WC-10 and -20 wt% Co added VC and $Cr_3C_2$. The direct reduction and carburization of the mixed powders were carried at $900\;^{\circ}C$ for 1 to 3 hours under flowing Ar gas. The mean size of WC particles in WC/Co composite powders was about 16 nm. The resultant powders were compacted and sintered at $1300{\sim}1360\;^{\circ}C$ for 0.5 hour. After sintering the mean size of WC particles was about 50 nm.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.101-108
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• 1996

In this study, WC-l7wt% Co composite powder for thermal spray was fabricated by spray drying method. The agglomerated composite powder had spheroidal morphology and the particle size distribution was 20~60${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. WC and Co were distributed homogeneously. However, the strength of the spray-dried agglomerate was low due to the pores within the agglomerate. Therefore, the spray-dried agglomerate was broken down during HVOF thermal spray and the microstructure was inhomogeneous with many pores within the coating layer. And the decomposition of WC to W and $W_{6}$ $C_{2.54}$ was accelerated. The strength and flowability of the agglomerate were greatly improved by sintering heat treatment(110$0^{\circ}C$, 1 hour, hi atmosphere), and then the coating layer showed dense and homogeneous microstructure with well-developed splats. The hardness of the coating layer was H $v_{300}$ = 1072.2.2.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.19-25
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• 2022

In this study, tungsten carbide (WC) powder was prepared using a novel recycling process for hard metal sludge that does not use ammonium paratungstate. Instead of ammonia, acid was used to remove the sodium and crystallized tungstate, resulting in the formation of tungstic acid (H₂WO₄). The WC powder was successfully synthesized by the carbothermal reduction of tungstic acid through H₂O decomposition, reduction of WO₃ to W, and formation of WC. The carbon content and holding time at the carbothermal reduction temperature were optimized to remove free carbon from the WC powder. As a result, most of the free carbon in the WC powder prepared from sludge was removed, and the content of free carbon in the synthesized WC powder was lower than that in commercial WC powder. Moreover, the crystallite size of WC prepared from H₂WO₄ was much smaller than that of commercial micron-sized WC powder produced from APT. The small crystallite size of WC induces grain growth during the sintering of the WC-Co composite; thus, a WC-Co composite with large WC grains was fabricated using the WC powder prepared from H₂WO₄. The large WC grains affected the mechanical properties of the WC-Co composite. Further, due to the large grain size, the WC-Co composite fabricated from H₂WO₄ exhibited a higher toughness than that of the WC-Co composite prepared from commercial WC powder.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.231-238
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• 2001

We combined Field-Activated Combustion Synthesis(FACS) with mechanical pressure to produce dense WC-20 vol.%Co composite in one step. The hardness, the fracture toughness and the relative density of the dense WC-20 vol.%Co were investigated. Under the application of 60 MPa pressure and 3000A current on the reactants, the relative density of WC-20 vol.%Co composite was 99.4%. The fracture toughness and hardness were $9.4 MPa.m^{1/2}$ and $1672kg\textrm{mm}^2$ respectively. The fracture toughness and hardness of WC-20 vol.%Co composite produced by FAPACS were lower than that of nanostructured composite, but similar to commercial ones. Therefore we concluded that the FAPACS method which can produce WC-20 vol.%Co within several minutes in one step is superior to conventional ones.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.9-9
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• 2003

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.208-216
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• 1994

A radically new approach to the in situ synthesis of the consituent phases of a composite structure has enabled the production of a new WC/Co materials with an ultrafine microstructure. The process for synthesizing nanophase WC/Co powders consists of spray drying from solution to form a homogeneous precursor powder, and thermochemical conversion of the precursor powder to the nanophase WC/Co powder. Near theoretical density of pure nanophase WC-10 wt%Co has been obtained in only 30 sec at 140$0^{\circ}C$. But WC particles were grown up very rapidly with longer sintering time to get full density. To overcome coarsening of WC particle during sintering, VC, TaC and VC/TaC were used as the grain growth inhibitor with different amount respectively. VC/TaC doped WC-10 wt%Co was shown superior hardness and TRS and microstructure was maintained ultrafine scale (average WC size is less than 0.1 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$).

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.640-641
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• 2006

To improve the mechanical properties of WC-Co cemented carbides, the dual composite was studied. The compositions of granule and matrix were nano-sized WC-6 wt% Co(granule) and normal sized WC-20 wt% Co(matrix), respectively. The granules were grouped 50, 100 and $150\;{\mu}m$ and mixed with WC and Co powders as the volume fractions of granule to matrix were 50 to 50, 40 to 60 and 30 to 70. These compacts were sintered at $1380^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes in vacuum. The microstructure, transverse rupture strength and wear resistance were investigated.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.12 no.2 s.49
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• pp.112-116
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• 2005

In the present study, the focus is on the analysis of carbothermal reduction of oxide powder prepared from waste WC/Co hardmetal by solid carbon under a stream of argon for the recycling of the WC/Co hard-metal. The oxide powder was prepared by the combination of the oxidation and crushing processes using the waste $WC-8 wt.\%Co$ hardmetal as the raw material. This oxide powder was mixed with carbon black, and then this mixture was carbothermally reduced under a flowing argon atmosphere. The changes in the phase structure and gases discharge of the mixture during carbothermal reduction was analysed using XRD and gas analyzer. The oxide powder prepared from waste $WC-8wt.\%Co$ hardmetal has a mixture of $WO_{3} and CoWO_{4}$. This oxide powder reduced at about $850^{\circ}C$, formed tungsten carbides at about $950^{\circ}C$, and then fully transformed to a mixed state of tungsten carbide (WC) and cobalt at about $1100^{\circ}C$ by solid carbon under a stream of argon. The WC/Co composite powder synthesized at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours from oxide powder of waste $WC-8wt.\%Co$ hardmetal has an average particle size of $0.3 {\mu}m$.