Sintering and Characterizing of WC-5Co Cemented Carbide under High Temperature and High Pressure

CHEN Chunhua; GUO Ruiang; HE Duanwei; WEI Xiuyan; HU Zuguang; YANG Jianyun

doi:10.11858/gywlxb.20251067

Volume 39 Issue 12

Dec 2025

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Chinese Journal of High Pressure Physics > 2025 > 39(12): 123101.

CHEN Chunhua, GUO Ruiang, HE Duanwei, WEI Xiuyan, HU Zuguang, YANG Jianyun. Sintering and Characterizing of WC-5Co Cemented Carbide under High Temperature and High Pressure[J]. Chinese Journal of High Pressure Physics, 2025, 39(12): 123101. doi: 10.11858/gywlxb.20251067

Citation:

CHEN Chunhua, GUO Ruiang, HE Duanwei, WEI Xiuyan, HU Zuguang, YANG Jianyun. Sintering and Characterizing of WC-5Co Cemented Carbide under High Temperature and High Pressure[J]. Chinese Journal of High Pressure Physics, 2025, 39(12): 123101. doi: 10.11858/gywlxb.20251067

Citation:

CHEN Chunhua, GUO Ruiang, HE Duanwei, WEI Xiuyan, HU Zuguang, YANG Jianyun. Sintering and Characterizing of WC-5Co Cemented Carbide under High Temperature and High Pressure[J]. Chinese Journal of High Pressure Physics, 2025, 39(12): 123101. doi: 10.11858/gywlxb.20251067

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Sintering and Characterizing of WC-5Co Cemented Carbide under High Temperature and High Pressure

doi: 10.11858/gywlxb.20251067

1.
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, Sichuan, China
2.
Drilling Technology Services Company, GWDC, Panjin 124100, Liaoning, China

Received Date: 02 Apr 2025
Rev Recd Date: 19 May 2025
Accepted Date: 15 Sep 2025

Available Online: 20 May 2025

Issue Publish Date: 05 Dec 2025

Abstract

Abstract

As an important type of powder metallurgy products, tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) cemented carbides are widely applied in numerous industrial fields. Traditional sintering methods suffer from high sintering temperatures, long sintering times, and grain coarsening, which make it difficult to meet the requirements for the preparation of high-strength fine-grained cemented carbides. In this study, the sintering behavior of the sub-micron WC-5Co (with a mass fraction of cobalt of 5%) cemented carbides was investigated using the high-temperature and high-pressure (HTHP) method. The experimental results show that the sintered body can achieve a relative density of 99.4% and a Vickers hardness value of (24.0±0.3) GPa under the treatment conditions of 5.0 GPa and 1 250 ℃, which is significantly better than that of the same composition of cemented carbides prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and vacuum sintering methods. In comparison with the commercial cemented carbides with the same initial powder, the average grain size of WC in the sintered samples under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions is reduced by about 36%, and the Vickers hardness is increased by about 10%. In comparison with traditional sintering methods, the HTHP sintering method effectively reduces the sintering temperature, shortens the sintering time, and enhances sintering efficiency. Moreover, high pressure can effectively inhibit the abnormal growth of the WC grains during solid-state sintering. During liquid-phase sintering (at 1 450 ℃), an increase in sintering pressure results in significant refinement of the WC grains. When the sintering pressure is increased from 3.0 GPa to 5.0 GPa, the Vickers hardness of the samples is increased by about 7%.
- high-temperature and high-pressure sintering,
- cemented carbide,
- microstructure,
- Vickers hardness

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References(37)

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