Reinforcement of tungsten carbide grains by nanoprecipitates in cemented carbides

In contrast to the conventional method that obtains a high fracture strength of tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) cemented carbides by reducing WC grain size to near-nano or nanoscale, a new approach has been developed to achieve ultrahigh fracture strength by strengthening the WC grains through precipitate reinforcement. The cemented carbides were prepared by liquid-state sintering the in situ synthesized WC-Co composite powders with a little excess carbon and pre-milled Cr₃C₂ particles having different size scales. It was found that the nanoscale dispersed particles precipitate in the WC grains, which mainly have a coherent or semi-coherent interface with the matrix. The pinning effect of the nanoparticles on the motion of dislocations within the WC grains was observed. The mechanisms for the precipitation of nanoparticles in the WC grains were discussed, based on which a new method to enhance the resistance against the transgranular fracture of cemented carbides was proposed.