Impact of Ni₃Al Addition on Structure and Properties of Ultrafine-grained WC-Ni₃Al Cemented Carbides by Spark Plasma Sintering

Abstract

At temperatures ranging from 1 210 to 1 270 °C, pressure for 40 MPa and holding time for 10 min, higher density ultrafine-grained WC-Ni₃Al cemented carbides with Ni₃Al contents ranging from 5wt% to 20wt% were fabricated using spark plasma sintering. The influence of Ni₃Al addition on the structure and properties of the WC-Ni₃Al composites was investigated and characterized. The experimental results demonstrate that Ni₃Al addition affects the sintering behavior of WC-Ni₃Al cemented carbides. During sintering, Ni₃Al possesses higher interfacial energy, thus inhibits the growth of WC grains, resulting in an average grain size of 280–330 nm of WC-Ni₃Al composites, which is classified as ultrafine-grained. Furthermore, the increase in Ni₃Al content results in a decrease in hardness but an improvement in fracture toughness. When the Ni₃Al content reaches 15wt%, it aggregates to form “Ni₃Al pools”, resulting in a significant hardness reduction of 14.02% compared to WC-10wt% Ni₃Al composites. More fracture energy is consumed by cracks passing through the “Ni₃Al pools”, thus enhancing the toughness of the material. The optimal comprehensive properties are obtained with a Ni₃Al content of 10wt%, exhibiting a hardness of 1 866.8 HV, a fracture toughness of 11.79 MPa·m^1/2, achieved a great balance between high hardness and high toughness than that of other studies.

Keywords

Ni₃Al addition / ultrafine-grained WC-Ni₃Al cemented carbide / spark plasma sintering / mechanical properties

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