Tungsten carbide (WC) hard materials are used in various industries and possess a superior hardness compared to other hard materials. They have particularly high melting points, high strength, and abrasion resistance. Accordingly, tungsten carbide hard materials are used for wear-resistant tools, cutting tools, machining tools, and other tooling materials. In this study, the WC-5wt.%Co, Fe, Ni hard materials are densified using the horizontal ball milled WC-Co, WC-Fe, and WC-Ni powders by a spark plasma sintering process. The WC-5Co, WC-5Fe, and WC-5Ni hard materials are almost completely densified with a relative density of up to 99.6% after simultaneous application of a pressure of 60 MPa and an electric current for about 15 min without any significant change in the grain size. The average grain size of WC-5Co, WC-5Fe, and WC-5Ni that was produced through SPS was about 0.421, 0.779, and 0.429 μm, respectively. The hardness and fracture toughness of the dense WC-5Co, WC-5Fe, WC-5Ni hard materials were also investigated.

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• Synthesis of W₂C by Spark Plasma Sintering of W-WC Powder Mixture and Its Etching Property
  Gyu-Sang Oh, Sung-Min Lee, Sung-Soo Ryu
  Journal of Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute.2020; 27(4): 293.     CrossRef
• Fabrication and Properties of Densified Tungsten by Magnetic Pulse Compaction and Spark Plasma Sintering
  Eui Seon Lee, Jongmin Byun, Young-Keun Jeong, Sung-Tag Oh
  Korean Journal of Materials Research.2020; 30(6): 321.     CrossRef