Title: A comparison between ultrafine WC-Co and fine WC-VC-Co alloys

Authors: D. du Randt, S. Luyckx, D. Marcoulides, I.T. Northrop, D.J. Whitefield

Addresses: Boart Longyear Research Centre, Krugersdorp, South Africa. School of Process and Materials Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa. Boart Longyear Research Centre, Krugersdorp, South Africa. Boart Longyear Springs Centre, Springs, South Africa. School of Process and Materials Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract: During the last few years WC-VC-Co alloys have been developed starting from V ₈C₇ , WC and Co powders. After sintering, the alloys are composed of WC, (W,V)C and Co and, at a mean carbide grain size of 1-2 µm, which can be defined as ||fine||, they exhibit a hardness which is equal or superior to that of the hardest WC-Co alloys of equal cobalt content (1). The hardest WC-Co alloys which are in production at present have mean grain size of approximately 0.4 µm and are usually referred to as ||ultrafine|| (2). This paper compares the hardness as well as other properties of ultrafine WC-Co and fine WC-VC-Co alloys.

Keywords: ultrafine WC-Co; ultrafine WC-VC-Co.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2000.001254

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2000 Vol.15 No.3/4/5, pp.270-274

Published online: 01 Jul 2003 *

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