Study of high-speed sintering of fine-grained hard alloys based on tungsten carbide with ultralow cobalt content. III. Effect of C content on sintering kinetics of the nanopowders

The features of high-speed spark plasma sintering (SPS) of plasma-chemical nanopowders WC – (0.3, 0.6, 1) wt. % Co with the addition of 0.3 and 0.5 wt. % graphite were studied. The structural features of the ultralow-cobalt hard alloys with graphite addition during SPS are due to the simultaneous influence of an increased concentration of oxygen adsorbed on the surface of plasma-chemical WC – Co nanoparticles during mixing with graphite, and the effect of graphite, which leads to a decrease in activation energy of sintering due to a decrease in the intensity of formation of η-phase particles in “oxidized” WC – Co nanopowders, as well as the formation of a fairly uniform fine-grained structure. Samples of fine-grained ultralow-cobalt hard alloys with increased hardness and fracture toughness were obtained (for a WC – 0.6 wt. % Co – 0.3 wt. % C hard alloy with an average grain size of ~ (1 – 1.5) mm, the hardness is Hv = 20.2 – 20.5 GPa with a minimum crack resistance coefficient KIC = 9.2 – 10.4 MPa·m1/2).