Invar/WC Composite Compacts Obtained by Spark Plasma Sintering from Mechanically Alloyed Powders

Călin-Virgiliu Prica; Traian Florin Marinca; Bogdan Viorel Neamțu; Argentina Niculina Sechel; Florin Popa; Elekes Marton Jozsa; Ionel Chicinaș

doi:10.3390/ma15196714

Invar/WC Composite Compacts Obtained by Spark Plasma Sintering from Mechanically Alloyed Powders

Materials (Basel). 2022 Sep 27;15(19):6714. doi: 10.3390/ma15196714.

Authors

Călin-Virgiliu Prica¹, Traian Florin Marinca¹, Bogdan Viorel Neamțu¹, Argentina Niculina Sechel¹, Florin Popa¹, Elekes Marton Jozsa², Ionel Chicinaș¹

Affiliations

¹ Materials Science and Engineering Department, Faculty of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 103-106, Muncii Ave, 400641 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² Universal Alloy Corporation, Dumbravita 244A, 437145 Maramures, Romania.

Abstract

The composite materials are used on an increasingly large scale in top fields, such as the automotive, aerospace, and nuclear industries, due to the combination of the specific properties of the composite components. Invar/WC nanocrystalline composite compacts were successfully obtained by spark plasma sintering from mechanical milled composite powder. The influence of the amount of tungsten carbide (WC) on sintering, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and hardness has been investigated. The relative density and hardness of Invar/WC composite compacts increases with increasing the WC content up to 10 vol.%. At higher amount of WC (15% vol.), the relative density and hardness of the Invar/WC composite compacts decreases. The temperature up to which CTE remains at a low value (0.6-1) × 10^-6 °C^-1 is influenced by the WC content and decreases with the WC amount of increase.

Keywords: Invar/WC composite compacts; coefficient of thermal expansion; spark plasma sintering.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding, and the APC was funded by Technical University of Cluj-Napoca.