Nanostructured Mix of Tungsten Carbide with Cobalt for Wear Parts

Cobalt-tungsten carbide (WC-Co) composites are used extensively to manufacture wear-resistant tools. The mechanical properties of these composites are closely related to the particle size of tungsten carbide and to the thickness of the cobalt layers that link them.
It is currently possible to produce nano-tungsten carbide powders by several methods. However, given the large gap between the production time of the powder and the final processing, major agglomeration is observed.
High energy grinding mills allow adjustment of mixing conditions by modifying the speed, number and size of balls, which leads to a wide range in the impact energy and the number of impacts.
This paper studies the problem of obtaining carbide particles uniformly coated with a layer of cobalt. Nano grained WC powder was prepared in the laboratory by grinding mixtures of WC + 10% Co in a planetary mill. The resultant powders were analyzed by electron microscopy laser particles and size X-ray diffraction.