Phase formation in cemented carbides prepared from WC and stainless steel powder – An experimental study combined with thermodynamic calculations. (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: de Oro Calderon, Raquel; Agna, Alessandra; Gomes, Uilame Umbelino; Schubert, Wolf-Dieter
• Is Part Of: International journal of refractory metals & hard materials. Volume 80(2019)
• Page Start: 225
• Page End: 237
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Cemented carbides -- Alternative binders -- Stainless steel -- Calphad -- Microstructure -- Phase formation; Heat resistant alloys -- Periodicals; Refractory materials -- Periodicals; Metallography -- Periodicals; Alliages réfractaires -- Périodiques; Matériaux réfractaires -- Périodiques; Métallographie -- Périodiques; Heat resistant alloys; Metallography; Refractory materials; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 669.73
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2019.01.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0263-4368

Abstract

Abstract: Cemented carbides prepared from mixes of WC and stainless steel powder have been proposed as possible alternatives to WC-Co. However, phase formation in such systems is not well described in the literature, in particular with regard to the possible formation of Cr-carbides. In this work, cemented carbides have been prepared from batches of coarse WC powder and 20 wt% AISI 360 L stainless steel powder, considering different carbon black additions to vary the final carbon contents to 4.9, 5.64, 5.75 wt% C. Both experimental results and thermodynamic calculations show that no classical two phase area – containing only WC and metallic binder- can be expected in these alloys. (Cr, Fe)-carbides are observed at all carbon contents in equilibrium with eta phases and binder, and at the highest carbon content also with graphite. As a consequence of the formation of (Cr, Fe)-carbides the amount of metallic binder decreases significantly, and the composition of the binder changes drastically. The binder phase in the sintered materials constitute an Fe-15Ni alloy with about 5 wt% Cr and 2 wt% W in solid solution, which is more similar to a maraging steel rather than a stainless steel. Both thermodynamic calculations and experimental results confirm that the maximum amount of Cr that can be retained in the metallic binder is around 5 wt% Cr which implies that, after sintering, the stainless steel properties will be lost.