• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2004

The oxidation behavior of 91 WC-9Co hardmetal in weight percentage has been studied in the present work as a part of the development of recycling process. The morphological and compositional changes of the WC-Co hardmetal with oxidation time at 90$0^{\circ}C$ were analyzed by using surface observation and X-ray diffraction. respective]y. As the oxidation time increased, the WC-Co hardmetal was continuously expanded to form porous oxide mixtures of $CoWO_4$ and $WO_3$. The morphology of porous oxide mixture was basically dependent on initial shape of the WC-Co hardmetal. From thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis, it was found that the oxidation rate was increased with increasing oxidation temperature and oxygen content in the flowing atmospheric gas. The fraction of oxidation versus time curves showed S-curve relationship at a given of oxidation temperature. These oxidation behaviors of the WC-Co hardmetal were discussed in terms of previously proposed kinetic models.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.240-245
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• 2018

This study focuses on the fabrication of a WC/Co composite powder from the oxide of WC/Co hardmetal scrap using solid carbon in a hydrogen gas atmosphere for the recycling of WC/Co hardmetal. Mixed powders are manufactured by mechanically milling the oxide powder of WC-13 wt% Co hardmetal scrap and carbon black with varying powder/ball weight ratios. The oxide powder of WC-13 wt% Co hardmetal scrap consists of $WO_3$ and $CoWO_4$. The mixed powder mechanically milled at a lower powder/ball weight ratio (high mechanical milling energy) has a more rapid carbothermal reduction reaction in the formation of WC and Co phases compared with that mechanically milled at a higher powder/ball weight ratio (lower mechanical milling energy). The WC/Co composite powder is fabricated at $900^{\circ}C$ for 6 h from the oxide of WC/Co hardmetal scrap using solid carbon in a hydrogen gas atmosphere. The fabricated WC/Co composite powder has a particle size of approximately $0.25-0.5{\mu}m$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.372-378
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• 2016

This study focuses on the development of an alkaline leaching hydrometallurgy process for the recovery of tungsten from WC/Co hardmetal sludge, and an examination of the effect of the process parameters on tungsten recovery. The alkaline leaching hydrometallurgy process has four stages, i.e., oxidation of the sludge, leaching of tungsten by NaOH, refinement of the leaching solution, and precipitation of tungsten. The WC/Co hardmetal sludge oxide consists of $WO_3$ and $CoWO_4$. The leaching of tungsten is most affected by the leaching temperature, followed by the NaOH concentration and the leaching time. About 99% of tungsten in the WC/Co hardmetal sludge is leached at temperatures above $90^{\circ}C$ and a NaOH concentration above 15%. For refinement of the leaching solution, pH control of the solution using HCl is more effective than the addition of $Na_2S{\cdot}9H_2O$. The tungsten is precipitated as high-purity $H_2WO_4{\cdot}H_2O$ by pH control using HCl. With decreasing pH of the solution, the tungsten recovery rate increases and then decrease. About 93% of tungsten in the WC/Co hardmetal sludge is recovered by the alkaline leaching hydrometallurgy process.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.12 no.2 s.49
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• pp.112-116
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• 2005

In the present study, the focus is on the analysis of carbothermal reduction of oxide powder prepared from waste WC/Co hardmetal by solid carbon under a stream of argon for the recycling of the WC/Co hard-metal. The oxide powder was prepared by the combination of the oxidation and crushing processes using the waste $WC-8 wt.\%Co$ hardmetal as the raw material. This oxide powder was mixed with carbon black, and then this mixture was carbothermally reduced under a flowing argon atmosphere. The changes in the phase structure and gases discharge of the mixture during carbothermal reduction was analysed using XRD and gas analyzer. The oxide powder prepared from waste $WC-8wt.\%Co$ hardmetal has a mixture of $WO_{3} and CoWO_{4}$. This oxide powder reduced at about $850^{\circ}C$, formed tungsten carbides at about $950^{\circ}C$, and then fully transformed to a mixed state of tungsten carbide (WC) and cobalt at about $1100^{\circ}C$ by solid carbon under a stream of argon. The WC/Co composite powder synthesized at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours from oxide powder of waste $WC-8wt.\%Co$ hardmetal has an average particle size of $0.3 {\mu}m$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.340-341
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• 2006

High functional micro devices are demanded in a variety of fields. For realising such demands, development of high-precision micro-components installed in the devices are needed. To achieve high-precision in the mold processing of micro-components, the development of mold materials, i.e., the development of WC-Co hardmetal with higher hardness and fracture strength is essential, together with the developments of processing technology of high precision mold and mold-forming technology of high precision micro-components, etc. The role of development of the finer submicro-grained hardmetal in a NEDO national project aiming the integrated development of these all technologies and some results are mainly explained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.873-874
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• 2006

PCBN tools are used worldwide for machining of hardened steel parts in automotive industries. But in heavy interrupted cutting of hardened steel, the tool life is not so stable by sudden breakage of the cutting edge, and total cost of cutting by PCBN is not so economical compared to the grinding. To solve this problem, new PCBN has been developed. New PCBN has very fine and homogeneous microstructure to increase the toughness of sintered body that it provides a reliable tool life for heavy interrupted cutting.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.889-890
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• 2006

In recent years, PCB drills with smaller diameters less than 0.1 mm are used and thus there are growing needs for ultra-fine grained cemented carbides. However, ultra-fine WC powder usually causes extraordinary grain growth during sintering which weakens mechanical strength of ultra-fine grained cemented carbides. So we examined several kinds of WC powders to make new ultra-fine grained cemented carbides having superior performance. We found that direct carburized WC powder is very good as a WC raw material. The PCB drills made of the developed ultra-fine grained cemented carbides have higher hardness, toughness and stiffness than conventional ones.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.273-279
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• 2002

In this study, the WC-10 wt.%Co nanopowders doped by grain growth inhibiter were produced by three different methods based on the spray conversion process. Agglomerated powders with homeogenous distribution of alloying elements and with internal particles of about 100-200 nm in diameter were synthesized. The microstructural changes and sintering behavior of hardmetal compacts were compared with doping method and sintering conditions. The microstructure of hardmetals was very sensitive to doping methods of inhibitor. Nanostructured WC-Co hardmetal powder compacts containing TaC/VC doped by chemical method instead of ball-milling shown superior sintering densification, and the microstructure maintained ultrafine scale with rounded WC particles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.344-345
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• 2006

The linear intercept (LI) method was used to quantitatively measure the intercepts of WC grains in nano-grained WC-10Co hardmetal. When the surveyed intercept numbers of WC grain exceeded 200, the statistic data for the mean grain size of WC were reproduced. The discriminative minimal grain size of used LI method was 12 nm; the maximum intercept of WC grain was 109 nm; the average intercept of WC grains was 45 nm and the corresponding 3D mean grain size of WC was 70 nm which is agreeable with the XRD outcome.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.334-335
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• 2006

WC/WC interface in VC mono-doped WC-10mass%Co submicro-grained hardmetals of $0.5\;{\mu}m$ was investigated together with WC/Co interface by using HRTEM and XMA. The thickness of V-rich layer and the analytical value of V at WC/WC interface were almost the same as those at WC/Co interfaces. These results, etc., suggested that the V-rich layers at both interfaces were not generated by an equilibrium segregation mechanism in the sintering stage, but generated by a preferential precipitation mechanism during the solidification of Co liquid phase in the cooling stage. Based on this suggestion, we succeeded in developing a nano-grained hardmetal with 100 nm $(0.1\;{\mu}m)$.