Synthesis of nanocrystalline WC single-phase refractory via mechanical milling

Abstract

In this paper the possibility of production of nanocrystalline WC single-phase by mechanical milling has been investigated. The raw materials containing tungsten and carbon with WC as nucleation were milled in a planetary ball mill and sampled in different times. Studies showed that after 75 hours of milling the WC with W2C was produced and remained constant in higher milling time. Adding WC to raw materials at the beginning process leads to the fact that after 50 hours of milling only WC was synthesized without undesirable W2C phase. This material remained stable until higher times of milling too. From broadening of XRD peaks, the crystalline size in synthesized WC was estimated in nanometer scale which lower than the system containing primary WC, and it means that the strain in this system was lower than first system. Copyright © 2011 Mansour Razavi et al.