History of cemented carbides in the Soviet Union

Abstract

The history of the Soviet cemented carbide industry, which was presumably one of the biggest carbide industries worldwide in former times with 10 huge plants, the total annual production of over 7000 t of cemented carbides and nearly 25,000 employees, is almost unknown in the West. The first Soviet WC–10%Co carbide grade was developed and implemented by G.A. Meerson at the Moscow Electro-Plant in 1929 and had the brand name “POBEDIT”, the word originated from the Russian word POBEDA — victory. The brand name POBEDIT became a common noun soon, and even now many people use it to designate cemented carbide in Russia instead of the technically correct terms “hard alloy” or “hardmetal”. Nearly 16 t of POBEDIT were fabricated in 1931, which was more than the total estimated production of cemented carbides in the Western countries in the early 1930's. Later on, the carbide production was transferred to the Moscow Plant of Rare Chemical Elements and the full-scale production – from the fabrication of tungsten anhydride to sintered carbide articles – was started there in the beginning of the 1930's. In the late 30's the Plant was renamed as the Moscow Cemented Carbide Plant (MKTC) and is now part of Sandvik. The second Soviet carbide plant, Kirovgrad Hardmetal Plant (KZTS), was founded in the small town of Kirovgrad in the Ural region on the basis of equipment evacuated from Moscow in the beginning of the Second World War. The further growth of the cemented carbide industry in the Soviet Union and the foundation of a number of new carbide plants after the Second World War are described. The carbide research and development is also described with an emphasis on pioneering technologies and materials developed and implemented in the Soviet Union heralding those being presently state-of-the-art in the cemented carbide industry.