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

Abstract

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 α-WC prepared by plasmachemical synthesis on the density, structural parameters, and mechanical properties of tungsten carbide is investigated.