Premium
Discussion of Nonconventional Effects in Solid‐State Sintering of Cemented Carbides
Author(s) -
Bounhoure Valerie,
Missiaen JeanMichel,
Lay Sabine,
Pauty Emmanuel
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2009.02993.x
Subject(s) - sintering , materials science , powder metallurgy , carbide , transmission electron microscopy , phase (matter) , solid state , micrometer , refractory (planetary science) , metallurgy , refractory metals , kinetics , composite material , scanning electron microscope , ceramic , nanotechnology , engineering physics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , optics , quantum mechanics , engineering
WC–Co materials are usually produced through a powder metallurgy route, including a liquid‐phase sintering step in the 1350°–1450°C temperature range. However, it is well established that a large part of sintering already occurs in the solid‐state for micrometer or submicrometer WC particles. Solid‐state spreading of the Co‐rich binder phase and local rearrangement of WC particles are responsible for the compact densification. But important issues still remain unexplained. First, densification by pure rearrangement should stop at a critical packing fraction of the WC refractory phase. Second, a strong influence of the C/W ratio on the spreading and sintering kinetics is observed experimentally. Both these effects are discussed in this paper, based on experimental dilatometric results, microstructural investigations by SEM and transmission electron microscopy, and considerations about interfacial energies in the system.