Authors:

D. A. Sandoval (1), L. Larrimbe (1), O. Lavigne (1), V. Girman (2,3), R. Sedlak (2), V. Luzin (4), M. Serra (5), M. T. Méndez (6)

1- Hyperion Materials & Technologies, Spain

2- Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Republic

3- Institute of Physics, P.J. Safarik University, Slovak Republic

4- Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation, Australia

5- Politecnical University of Catalunya, Spain

6- BRC Global Rolls Ltd., Singapore

Abstract:

Cemented carbide samples with 12 wt.% of binder content and fine and coarse WC grain size are sintered in two different cycles (SC1 and SC2). After assessing the mechanical properties, it is found that sintering conditions affect the hardness-toughness trade-off relationship found in hardmetals. To understand the effect of temperature, materials are deeply characterized by neutron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). No substantial difference is observed in the average stress state between fine-grained samples sintered in both conditions. TEM observations reveal same dislocation density for finer specimens, independently on sintering temperature. Nevertheless, further investigation in coarser material discloses that intrinsic plasticity changes when sintering at higher temperatures, showing a greater dislocation density and the presence of stacking faults within WC grains.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59499/EP246277229