Characterization and analysis of the aspect ratio of carbide grains in WC–Co composites

To study the aspect ratio distribution of carbide grains in WC–Co composites, two novel approaches, namely grain shape ellipse calculation and five parameter analysis (FPA) methods, are reported in this work. According to grain shape ellipse calculation, carbide grains that have a grain shape aspect ratio of 0.62 demarcate the more anisotropic grains with a larger size and the less anisotropic grains with a smaller size. Moreover, these grains remained predominantly populous under different cases of structural parameters and processing factors. According to five parameter analysis, the interface area aspect ratio can be derived from the relative area of prevalent (0001) basal planes and (10−10) prismatic planes, and can then be set relevance with the measured mechanical properties. The present work therefore offers new alternatives to establish the connection between the aspect ratio measurement and the property optimization of WC–Co composites.