SINTERING OF NANOSIZED TUNGSTEN CARBIDE PRODUCED BY GAS PHASE SYNTHESIS

Abstract

The preparation of ultrafine tungsten carbide bulk solids is of common interest in respect of the increased mechanical properties of such materials. Nanosized tungsten carbide powders are synthesized by ultra-rapid condensation from radio frequency plasma. The samples are compacted by hot pressing (HP) and spark-plasma sintering (SPS) at temperatures between 1500 and 1800 °C. The raw powders and compacted samples are investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD) to study the phase composition and crystallite size. The materials are also further characterised with electron microscopy methods (TEM and SEM). The topic of this study is to investigate the sintering behavior of the material, grain-growth development, and phase development in the WC-W2C system due to its technological importance.