• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.196-200
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• 1996

The dispersion of WC grains Into the interior of an eutectic liquid has been studied by superimposing the eutectic WC-85wt.%Co liquid on the top surface of presintered WC-l0wt.%Co alloy compacts. The heavy WC grains diffused into the interior of liquid from the WC-l0wt.%Co compacts. According to increasing the treating temperatures and times, the dispersion distance from WC-l0wt.%Co substrates increased. The fine WC grains diffused into the liquid faster than the coarse WC grains. The high microstructural stability of WC-Co alloys having the heavier WC grains dispersed in a lighter Co-rich liquid was attributed to Brownian motion of WC grains in liquid. The motion of WC grains in the liquid appears to be same with the colloid(the disperse phase) in a dispersing medium. The dihedral angle of 0 degree of WC-Co at. toy seems one of key parameters, which enables the WC-Co alloys to have high structural stability without settling the WC grains during liquid phase sintering.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.612-618
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• 2000

The WC/WC grain boundary structure and intergranular segregation in WC-Co and WC-VC-Co cemented carbides were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in order to elucidate whether contiguous boundaries were present or not at the atomic level. Some grain boundaries were separated by liquid phase, while others were contiguous at the atomic level. Cobalt was found to be segregated to WC/WC grain boundaries in WC-Co. Cobalt and vanadium were co-segregated to grain boundaries in WC-VC-Co. The segregation width in both materials was about 6 nm. These results suggest that the vanadium present in contiguous boundaries acts as an effective barrier to the migration of boundaries during sintering and annealing. This could explain the grain growth inhibiting mechanism of VC added to WC-Co.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2006

The codeposition behavior of WC particles from an additive-free nickel sulfate and sulfamate solution has been investigated. Electroplating of Ni/WC composites was carried out at different current density with variation of WC particle size. The Guglielmi adsorption mechanism is applied to the electroplating of the fine WC in Ni matrix. The contents of WC in Ni composite coating were increased both by increasing current density and WC concentration in the bath. The hardness of Ni/WC composite coating at low current density is higher than that at high current density since finer WC particles dispersed through the coating. The codeposition behaviors of Co coated WC particles were also investigated. Conducting layer of particles promoted the codeposition behavior of Ni/WC-Co composite coatings.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.19-25
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• 2022

In this study, tungsten carbide (WC) powder was prepared using a novel recycling process for hard metal sludge that does not use ammonium paratungstate. Instead of ammonia, acid was used to remove the sodium and crystallized tungstate, resulting in the formation of tungstic acid (H₂WO₄). The WC powder was successfully synthesized by the carbothermal reduction of tungstic acid through H₂O decomposition, reduction of WO₃ to W, and formation of WC. The carbon content and holding time at the carbothermal reduction temperature were optimized to remove free carbon from the WC powder. As a result, most of the free carbon in the WC powder prepared from sludge was removed, and the content of free carbon in the synthesized WC powder was lower than that in commercial WC powder. Moreover, the crystallite size of WC prepared from H₂WO₄ was much smaller than that of commercial micron-sized WC powder produced from APT. The small crystallite size of WC induces grain growth during the sintering of the WC-Co composite; thus, a WC-Co composite with large WC grains was fabricated using the WC powder prepared from H₂WO₄. The large WC grains affected the mechanical properties of the WC-Co composite. Further, due to the large grain size, the WC-Co composite fabricated from H₂WO₄ exhibited a higher toughness than that of the WC-Co composite prepared from commercial WC powder.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.438-444
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• 2000

The prediction of mechanical properties for WC-Co alloys by evaluation of coercive force and magnetic saturation were studied in relation to their microstructure. The WC-8%Co alloys were prepared using different WC particle size, carbon content and various sintering temperature by PM process. The magnetic properties such as coercive force and magnetic saturation of sintered WC-Co alloys were critically dependent upon their final composition and microstructure. Slight changes of carbon contents and small variation of WC grain size result in marked changes of magnetic properties, hardness and transverse rupture strength of sintered WC-Co alloys. It was found that the coercive force and hardness were increased by fine WC grain size of sinterd alloys, and the coercive force was proportional to hardness. With decreasing total carbon content below the stoichiometric value in WC-8%Co alloys the volume fraction of $\eta$ phase increased steadily, while the magnetic saturation and transverse rupture strength decreased. The magnetic saturation was inversely proportional to the coercive force of WC-Co alloys.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.392-396
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• 2021

Expensive PCBN or ceramic cutting tools are used for processing of difficult-to-cut materials such as Ti and Ni alloy materials. These tools have the problem of breaking easily due to their high hardness but low fracture toughness. To solve these problems, cutting tools that form various coating layers are used in low-cost WC-Co hard material tools, and research on various tool materials is being conducted. In this study, binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo₂C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo₂C hard materials are densified using horizontal ball milled WC-Co, WC-Co-Mo₂C powders, and spark plasma sintering process (SPS process). Each SPSed Binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo₂C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo₂C hard materials are almost completely dense, with relative density of up to 99.5 % after the simultaneous application of pressure of 60 MPa and almost no significant change in grain size. The average grain sizes of WC for Binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo₂C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo₂C hard materials are about 0.37, 0.6, 0.54, and 0.43 ㎛, respectively. Mechanical properties, microstructure, and phase analysis of SPSed Binderless-WC, WC-6 wt%Co-1 wt% Mo₂C, and WC-6 wt%Co-2.5 wt% Mo₂C hard materials are investigated.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.242-248
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• 2023

The Ag/WC electrical contacts were prepared via powder metallurgy using 60 wt% Ag, 40 wt% WC, and small amounts of Co₃O₄ with varying WC particle sizes. After the fabrication of the contact materials, microstructure observations confirmed that WC-1 had an average grain size (AGS) of 0.27 ㎛, and WC-2 had an AGS of 0.35 ㎛. The Ag matrix in WC-1 formed fine grains, whereas a significantly larger and continuous growth of the Ag matrix was observed in WC-2. This indicates the different flow behaviors of liquid Ag during the sintering process owing to the different WC sizes. The electrical conductivities of WC-1 and WC-2 were 47.8% and 60.4%, respectively, and had a significant influence on the Ag matrix. In particular, WC-2 exhibited extremely high electrical conductivity owing to its large and continuous Ag-grain matrix. The yield strengths of WC-1 and WC-2 after compression tests were 349.9 MPa and 280.7 MPa, respectively. The high yield strength of WC-1 can be attributed to the Hall-Petch effect, whereas the low yield strength of WC-2 can be explained by the high fraction of high-angle boundaries (HAB) between the WC grains. Furthermore, the relationships between the microstructure, electrical/mechanical properties, and deformation mechanisms were evaluated.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.451-455
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• 2007

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of input ratios of bulking material in aerobic composting of food wastes on variation of colony forming units(CFU) of fungi. Wood chips were used as a bulking material. Volume ratios of food wastes to wood chips in reactor of Control, WC-1 and WC-2 were 10/0, 10/5 and 10/10, respectively. Reactors were operated for 24 days with I hour stirring by 1rpm and 2 hours of the forced aeration rate of $80L/min{\cdot}m^3$ per day. WC-2 reached high temperature range faster than WC-1, and the maximum temperature of WC-2 was higher than that of WC-1. WC-2 reached high pH range faster than WC-1. and the maximum pH of WC-2 was higher than that of WC-1. WC-2 reached high Log(CFU/gram) range faster than WC-I, and the maximum Log(CFU/gram) of WC-2 was higher than that of WC-1. These all mean that the reaction velocity of composting of WC-2 was faster than that of WC-1. The profile of fungi changes in Log(CFU/gram) was similar to that of temperature changes (r=0.8861) not pH changes (r=0.1631).

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1392-1400
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• 1995

WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites, using both the SHS (Self-propagating High Temperature Synthesis) synthesized WC powder method and commercial WC powder, were prepared by varing WC-Co/Al2O3 vol% ratio and sintering temperature (1350℃∼1650℃) for 1 hr in Ar atmosphere. Mechanical characterization has been investigated by Instron meterial testing system and Vicker's hardness test. Compositional and structural chracterizations were carried out by energy-dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX) data and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Electrical characterization was carried out by the electrical resistivity measurement using 4-point probe method. As sintering period increased and Al2O3 contents decreased in WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composite, shrinkage and relative density increased, resulting in maximum values at 1600℃. Also the major matrix phase changed with increasing Al2O3 content from 0 to 100 vol%. It was also identified by SEM, EDAX, and electrical resistivity measurement. Based on the results of analysis of flexural strength, toughness and hardness, the mechanical properties of WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites using the SHS synthesized WC powder were better than those WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites using commercial WC powder because WC-10wt%Co-Al2O3 ceramic composites using the SHS synthesized WC powder were sintered very well due to small initial particle size. By the addition of 40 vol% Al2O3 [60(WC=10wt%Co)-40Al2O3], it was possible to obtain a proper candidate as a superalloy.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.3 s.274
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• pp.171-177
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• 2005

The effect of variation in particle size of WC and Co powder on the properties of WC-Co alloys was investigated. WC and Co powders having different particle sizes were used in the fabrication of $WC-10\;wt\%$Co composites. High hardness and low fracture toughness alloy was obtained with the decrease in WC particle size regardless of Co particle size. It was newly found in this investigation that the initial particle size of Co as well as WC had a great role in the microstructure and properties of WC-Co hard materials. The average grain size and fracture toughness of WC-Co alloys using same WC powder size increased and their hardness decreased with the use of relatively finer Co binder.