Inhibition Effect of Ti(C,N) Particle Dispersion on Grain Growth of WC-Co Cemented Carbide

Abstract

The WC-Co cemented carbides with the addition of Ti(C,N) base particles with different sizes were fabricated by liquid phase sintering and their microstructures were mainly investigated in detail comparing the microstructure of the alloys with VC and Cr₃C₂ addition. It was found that the WC grain growth was more strongly inhibited with increasing Ti(C,N) content and with decreasing Ti(C,N) particle size. The degree of inhibition by the addition of Ti(C,N) particle with about 0.1 μm size was lower than that of VC addition and was almost same as that of Cr₃C₂ addition. Considering the results about the relationship between WC grain size and Ti(C,N) particle size and the analysis of Co phase composition, it was seen that the mechanism of grain growth inhibition by the addition of Ti(C,N) particles was the pinning (Zener) effect by the second phase particle, which was different from the mechanism for the addition of VC and Cr₃C₂ reported previously. The case that one Ti(C,N) particle contacts plural WC grains was often observed, so that the pinning effect was considered to work by many Ti(C,N) particles neighboring one WC grain. The very important result that the pinning effect by Ti(C,N) addition enable to develop the new type of ultra-fine cemented carbide was obtained in this study.