Abrasion of ultrafine WC-Co by fine abrasive particles

Abstract

Abrasive wear of a series of WC-(5%-14%, mass fraction) Co hardmetals was investigated employing coarse and fine SiC abrasive under two-body dry abrasion conditions with pin-on-disc and edge-on-disc test arrangements. Unexpectedly, it is found that submicron grades demonstrate substantially higher wear rates comparing with the coarse grades if fine abrasive is utilized in pin-on-disc tests. Such a behavior is attributed to changes in a ratio of abrasive size to size of hard phase as finer abrasive is used. The edge-on-disc test demonstrates that edge wear may be described in two stages with the highest wear rates at the beginning stage. This behavior is associated with a transition of wear mechanisms as edge is wider due to wear. Compared with the ultrafine grades of the same Co content, the coarse grades demonstrate higher wear rates at the beginning, but lower wear rates at the final stage. Wear rates and mechanisms observed at final stage correlate well to the results observed for pin-on-disc tests employing fine abrasive.