Development of binderless WC hard alloy prepared by pulsed current sintering

Abstract

In this paper, we describe an experimental study of pulsed current sintered binderless tungsten carbide hard metal. The binderless tungsten carbide is expected to be a highly precious mold material used under high temperature and harsh conditions. Low temperature and rapid sintering are achieved by the pulsed current sintering method. The developed material has more than 99% of relative density and Rockwell hardness of 96.5[HR30N] without applying hot isostatic press. Due to its rapid sintering, the material has fine microstructure and fine surface roughness. The polished surface roughness (Ra) is less than 3 nm. © 2007 The Japan Institute of Metals.