• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.332-333
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• 2006

The driving forces and the probable processes of WC-Co grain growth are reanalysed from recent data of interface energy and microstructure. Grain growth is driven by the disappearing of the high energy WC/WC and WC/Co interfaces with habit planes different from {0001}, ${10\bar{1}0}$ and ${11\bar{2}0}$ facets and by the area decrease of the WC/WC and WC/Co interfaces with {0001} and ${10\bar{1}0}$ habit planes. Grain growth mainly results of dissolution-precipitation. Abnormal grains are likely formed by defects assisted nucleation.

• 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.11 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2004

The oxidation behavior of 91 WC-9Co hardmetal in weight percentage has been studied in the present work as a part of the development of recycling process. The morphological and compositional changes of the WC-Co hardmetal with oxidation time at 90$0^{\circ}C$ were analyzed by using surface observation and X-ray diffraction. respective]y. As the oxidation time increased, the WC-Co hardmetal was continuously expanded to form porous oxide mixtures of $CoWO_4$ and $WO_3$. The morphology of porous oxide mixture was basically dependent on initial shape of the WC-Co hardmetal. From thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis, it was found that the oxidation rate was increased with increasing oxidation temperature and oxygen content in the flowing atmospheric gas. The fraction of oxidation versus time curves showed S-curve relationship at a given of oxidation temperature. These oxidation behaviors of the WC-Co hardmetal were discussed in terms of previously proposed kinetic models.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2019

Tungsten carbide (WC) hard materials are used in various industries and possess a superior hardness compared to other hard materials. They have particularly high melting points, high strength, and abrasion resistance. Accordingly, tungsten carbide hard materials are used for wear-resistant tools, cutting tools, machining tools, and other tooling materials. In this study, the WC-5wt.%Co, Fe, Ni hard materials are densified using the horizontal ball milled WC-Co, WC-Fe, and WC-Ni powders by a spark plasma sintering process. The WC-5Co, WC-5Fe, and WC-5Ni hard materials are almost completely densified with a relative density of up to 99.6% after simultaneous application of a pressure of 60 MPa and an electric current for about 15 min without any significant change in the grain size. The average grain size of WC-5Co, WC-5Fe, and WC-5Ni that was produced through SPS was about 0.421, 0.779, and $0.429{\mu}m$, respectively. The hardness and fracture toughness of the dense WC-5Co, WC-5Fe, WC-5Ni hard materials were also investigated.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.311-313
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• 2004

WC-12-17%Co powders with nano- and micro-structures were deposited by cold spray process using nitrogen and helium gases. The results show that there is no detrimental phase transformation and/or decarburization of WC by cold spray deposition as expected. It is also observed that nano-sized WC in the feedstock powder is maintained in the cold spray deposition. It is demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate the nano-structured WC-Co coating with low porosity and very high hardness (-2050 HV) by cold spray deposition with reasonable powder preheating.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.348-349
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• 2006

The plastic deformation behavior of cemented carbides is related to the WC grain boundary strength. Ab initio calculations predict that Co and Mn segregate to WC/WC grain boundaries. To experimentally study the effect of Mn, a WC-Co-Mn material was manufactured and compared to a WC-Co material. The microstructure was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), including electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Special attention was paid to the WC grain size and the frequency of special low-energy grain boundaries. Mn was found to have negligible effect on both the WC grain growth and the fraction of $\sum2$ WC/WC boundaries in the as-sintered material.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.101-101
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• 2010

A strong adhesion of a silicon carbide (SiC) coating on a WC-Co substrate was achieved through an ion beam mixing technique and the corrosion resistance of the SiC coated WC-Co was investigated by means of a potentiodynamic electrochemical test. In the case of 1 M NaOH solution, a corrosion current density for a SiC coated WC-Co with a heat treatment at $500^{\circ}C$ displays about 50 times lower than that for the as-received WC-Co. However, in the case of 0.5 M H2SO4 solution, a corrosion current density for a SiC coated WC-Co displays about 3 times lower than that for as-received WC-Co. We discussed the physical reasons for the changes of the corrosion current densities at the different electrolytes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.193-193
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• 2011

Strong adhesion of a silicon carbide (SiC) coating to a WC-Co substrate was achieved through an ion beam mixing technique and the corrosion resistance of the SiC coated WC-Co was investigated by means of a potentiodynamic electrochemical test. In a 1 M NaOH solution, the corrosion current density of SiC-coated WC-Co after heat treatment at 500$^{\circ}C$ was about 50 times lower than that for the as-received WC-Co. In addition, the corrosion resistance systematically increases with increasing the SiC coating thickness. On the other hand, for a 0.5 M H2SO4 solution, the corrosion current density for SiC-coated WC-Co was about 3 times lower than that for the as-received WC-Co. We discuss the physical reasons for the changes in the corrosion current density with the different electrolytes.

• 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 Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.270-276
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• 2023

In this study, we analyzed two types of cold forging dies commonly used for manufacturing general nuts and screws to investigate the differences in WC powder according to the lifespan. For both Type I and Type II dies, it was observed that as the lifespan of the molds increases, the area fraction of Co becomes larger and the size of the powder becomes smaller. Moreover, there is a trend where the strength also increases as the lifespan gets longer. Actually, the hardness value of the sample with the longest lifespan is ~ 131 HV higher than the specimen of the shortest lifespan, It is noted that the reduction in toughness of the WC-Co mold is caused by insufficient Co and the decrease in contact surface area of WC-Co results in a reduced bonding surface area. The lifespan of cold-working WC molds increases when the W content and the volume fraction of WC are high, and the size of the WC powder is small. The results can significantly enhance producing high-quality molds with an extended lifespan using WC powder for cold forging.