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Development of manufacturing technology on WC–Co hardmetals

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 August 2021

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Abstract

Hardmetals are tungsten carbide (WC)-based composites, which are made of WC as a hard phase and transition metals such as Co, Fe, or/and Ni as ductile binder matrices. Their properties can be mainly tailored through the grain sizes of the sintered carbides and the amount of metallic binder. As successful tool materials, hardmetals are widely applied in metal cutting, wear applications, chipless forming, stoneworking, wood, and plastic working. In 2017, about two-thirds of tungsten consumption (including recycled materials) were produced for hardmetals in the world. This paper briefly introduces the development of manufacturing technology on WC–Co hardmetals from three aspects: powder preparation, bulk densification, and performance characterization. Two special WC–Co hardmetals are also described: cobalt-enrichment zone (CEZ) hardmetals, and binderless hardmetals. Furthermore, the development prospects for manufacturing techniques of hardmetals are also presented in the end.

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Acknowledgements

The work was financially supported by the Major Special Projects of Fujian Science and Technology Plan (Grant No. 2017HZ0001-1). The authors are grateful to Prof. Yang Mingchuan of SLU for his WC–Co composite powder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Baise University, Baise, 533000, China

    Hongbo Nie

  2. China National R&D Center for Tungsten Technology, Xiamen Tungsten Co., LTD., Xiamen, 361009, China

    Hongbo Nie & Taiquan Zhang

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  1. Hongbo Nie
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  2. Taiquan Zhang
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Correspondence to Hongbo Nie.

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Nie, H., Zhang, T. Development of manufacturing technology on WC–Co hardmetals. Tungsten 1, 198–212 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42864-019-00025-6

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