• 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 $0.25-0.5{\mu}m$.

• 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 $0.3 {\mu}m$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to investigate the manufacturing feasibility of WC-Co milling inserts via Powder Injection Molding (PIM) process. WC-Co is used in a wide variety of cutting tools due to its high hardness, stiffness, compressive strength and wear resistance properties. WC-Co parts for a high stress application were conventionally produced by the press and sinter method, which were Iimited to 2 dimensional shapes. Manufacturing WC-Co parts for a high stress application by PIM implies that tool efficiency can be highly improved due to increased freedom is design. P30 grade WC powder (WC-Co-TiC-TaC system) was mixed with RIST-5B133 binder and injection molded into milling inserts (Taegu Tech. Model WCMX 06T 308). The mean grain size of the powder was about 0.8$\mu$m. Injection molded specimens were debound by solvent extraction and thermal degradation method at various conditions. The specimens were sintered at 140$0^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in vacuum. Carbon content, weight loss, dimensional change, and macro defects of the specimen were carefully monitored at each stage of the PIM process. PIMed WC-Co milling inserts reached 100% full density after sinteing. Its mechanical properties and micro-structures were comparable with the press and sintered milling insert. Carbon content of the sintered WC-Co insert was mainly determained by the atmosphere of thermal debinding. By controlling powder loading and injection molding condition, dimensional accuracy could be obtained within 0.4%. We confirm that PIM can not only be an alternative manufacturing method for WC-Co parts economically but also provide a design freedom for more effieient cutting tools.

• 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.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.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2008

Ultrafine TiC-5%Co powders were synthesized by spray drying of aqueous solution of TiO$(OH)_2$ slurry and cobalt nitrate, followed by calcination and carbothermal reaction. The oxide powders with carbon powder was reduced and carburized at $900^{\circ}C{\sim}1250^{\circ}C$ under hydrogen atmosphere. During reduction, CO gas was mainly evolved by reducing reaction of oxides. Ultrafine TiC-5%Co powders were easily formed by carbothermal reaction at $1250^{\circ}C$ due to using ultrafine powders as raw materials. The ultrafine WC-TiC-Co alloy prepared by sintering of mixed powder of ultrafine WC-13%Co powder and ultrafine TiC-5%Co powder has higher sintered density and mechanical properties than WC-TiC-Co alloy prepared by commercial WC, TiC and Co powders.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1392-1400
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• 1995

WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites, using both the SHS (Self-propagating High Temperature Synthesis) synthesized WC powder method and commercial WC powder, were prepared by varing WC-Co/Al2O3 vol% ratio and sintering temperature (1350℃∼1650℃) for 1 hr in Ar atmosphere. Mechanical characterization has been investigated by Instron meterial testing system and Vicker's hardness test. Compositional and structural chracterizations were carried out by energy-dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX) data and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Electrical characterization was carried out by the electrical resistivity measurement using 4-point probe method. As sintering period increased and Al2O3 contents decreased in WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composite, shrinkage and relative density increased, resulting in maximum values at 1600℃. Also the major matrix phase changed with increasing Al2O3 content from 0 to 100 vol%. It was also identified by SEM, EDAX, and electrical resistivity measurement. Based on the results of analysis of flexural strength, toughness and hardness, the mechanical properties of WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites using the SHS synthesized WC powder were better than those WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites using commercial WC powder because WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites using the SHS synthesized WC powder were sintered very well due to small initial particle size. By the addition of 40 vol% Al2O3 [60(WC=10wt%Co)-40Al2O3], it was possible to obtain a proper candidate as a superalloy.

• 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.14 no.5
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• pp.315-319
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• 2007

Pure WC or WC with low Co concentration less than 0.5 wt.% is studied to fabricate high density WC/Co cemented carbide using vacuum sintering and post HIP process. Considering the high melting point of WC, it is difficult to consolidate it without the use of Co as binder. In this study, the effect of lower Co addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties evolution of WC/CO was investigated. By HIP process after vacuum sintering, hardness and density was sharply increased. The hardness values was $2,800kgf/mm^2$ using binderless WC.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.196-200
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• 1996

The dispersion of WC grains Into the interior of an eutectic liquid has been studied by superimposing the eutectic WC-85wt.%Co liquid on the top surface of presintered WC-l0wt.%Co alloy compacts. The heavy WC grains diffused into the interior of liquid from the WC-l0wt.%Co compacts. According to increasing the treating temperatures and times, the dispersion distance from WC-l0wt.%Co substrates increased. The fine WC grains diffused into the liquid faster than the coarse WC grains. The high microstructural stability of WC-Co alloys having the heavier WC grains dispersed in a lighter Co-rich liquid was attributed to Brownian motion of WC grains in liquid. The motion of WC grains in the liquid appears to be same with the colloid(the disperse phase) in a dispersing medium. The dihedral angle of 0 degree of WC-Co at. toy seems one of key parameters, which enables the WC-Co alloys to have high structural stability without settling the WC grains during liquid phase sintering.