Study on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of WC-10Ni3Al Cemented Carbide Prepared by Different Ball-Milling Suspension

Minai Zhang; Zhun Cheng; Jingmao Li; Shengguan Qu; Xiaoqiang Li

doi:10.3390/ma12142224

Study on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of WC-10Ni₃Al Cemented Carbide Prepared by Different Ball-Milling Suspension

Materials (Basel). 2019 Jul 10;12(14):2224. doi: 10.3390/ma12142224.

Authors

Minai Zhang^{1

2}, Zhun Cheng¹, Jingmao Li¹, Shengguan Qu¹, Xiaoqiang Li³

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Key Laboratory for Advanced Metallic Materials Fabrication and Forming, National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net-Shape Forming for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
³ Guangdong Key Laboratory for Advanced Metallic Materials Fabrication and Forming, National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net-Shape Forming for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. lixq@scut.edu.cn.

Abstract

In this paper, WC-10Ni₃Al cemented carbides were prepared by the powder metallurgy method, and the effects of ball-milling powders with two different organic solvents on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cemented carbides were studied. We show that the oxygen in the organic solvent can be absorbed into the mixed powders by ball-milling when ethanol (CH₃CH₂OH) is used as a ball-milling suspension. This oxygen leads to the formation of α-Al₂O₃ during sintering, which improves the fracture toughness, due to crack deflection and bridging, while the formation of η-phase (Ni₃W₃C) inhibits the grain growth and increases the hardness. Alternatively, samples milled using cyclohexane (C₆H₁₂) showed grain growth during processing, which led to a decrease in hardness. Therefore, the increase of oxygen content from using organic solvents during milling improves the properties of WC-Ni₃Al composites. The growth of WC grains can be inhibited and the hardness can be improved without loss of toughness by self-generating α-Al₂O₃ and η-phase (Ni₃W₃C).

Keywords: WC-10Ni3Al; ball-milling suspension; oxygen; α-Al2O3; η-phase.