Authors:
Shiqi Fang (Saarland University, Germany),
Núria Salán Ballesteros (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain)
Abstract:
Cemented carbides or hardmetals are ceramic-metal composites usually consisting of tungsten carbide particles bound by a cobalt-base alloy. They offer an outstanding range of property combinations depending on their effective microstructural assemblage. Hence, reliable microstructural characterization becomes essential for hardmetal selection and quality control. In practice, the two important microstructural parameters (phase ratio and grain size) are often estimated by a statistical estimation or qualitative classification. This work aims to verify them through two-dimensional characterization using easy-obtained inspecting facilities. Accordingly, optical microscopy was applied to acquire surface images grades after the metallographic processing, and line and area analysis methods were applied. It is found that these methods could offer relatively reliable microstructural information, and the line analysis was proven more suitable and precise for the rapid verification. The characterization of carbide grades with a size in submicron might be limited by the resolution of the optical microscopy.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59499/WP225369168