Kinetics of Spark Plasma Sintering of WC–10% Co Ultrafine-Grained Hard Alloy

Abstract

The effect of the carbon content on the kinetics of spark plasma sintering of nanopowder and submicron powder of WC–10% Co compositions was studied. Free carbon in the graphite form was introduced into nanopowders and submicron powders by mixing. The activation energy of solid-phase sintering at isothermal holding and continuous heating was determined. It is shown that increase in the carbon content leads to decrease in the volume fraction of the η phase and shift of the shrinkage curve into the region of low temperatures. It is established that an increase in the carbon content does not have a significant effect on the sintering activation energy of nanopowders and submicron powders in the region of “average” heating temperatures, the value of which is close to the activation energy of grain boundary diffusion in cobalt. It is shown that an increase in the carbon content leads to a significant decrease in the activation energy of consolidation of WC–Co powders in the region of “high” sintering temperatures owing to a decrease in the concentration of tungsten atoms in the γ phase based on cobalt. The sintering kinetics of fine-grained WC–Co alloys is limited by the rate of Coble diffusion creep of cobalt.