Comparative Study on the Densification, Microstructure and Properties of WC-10(Ni, Ni/Co) Cemented Carbides Using Electroless Plated and Coprecipitated Powders

More and more attention is being paid to the influence of powder mixing on the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of WC-based cemented carbides. In this study, WC was mixed with Ni and Ni/Co, respectively, by chemical plating and co-precipitated-hydrogen reduction, which are labelled as WC-Ni(EP), WC-Ni/Co(EP), WC-Ni(CP) and WC-Ni/Co(CP), respectively. After being densified in a vacuum, the density and grain size of CP were denser and finer than those of EP were. Simultaneously, the better mechanical properties of flexural strength (1110 MPa) and impact toughness (33 kJ/m(2)) were obtained by WC-Ni/Co(CP) due to the uniform distribution of WC and binding phase and solid solution enhancement of the Ni-Co alloy. In addition, the lowest self-corrosion current density of 8.17 × 10(−7) A·cm(−2), a self-corrosion potential of −0.25 V and the biggest corrosion resistance of 1.26 × 10(5) Ω in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution were obtained by WC-Ni(EP) because of the presence of the Ni-Co-P alloy.