Preparation and investigation of ultrafine-grained tungsten carbide with high hardness and fracture toughness

摘要

High-density samples of ultrafine-grained tungsten carbide with high hardness (up to 31-34 GPa) and increased fracture toughness (up to 5.2-6.4 MPa m(1/2)) are obtained using the technology of electropulse plasma sintering. The influence of the initial size of nanoparticles of alpha-WC prepared by plasmachemical synthesis on the density, structural parameters, and mechanical properties of tungsten carbide is investigated.