Effects of plastic deformation on the structure of WC-Co alloys

The structural picture is established of strain propagation in the carbide and cobalt phases in VK6 and VK50 hard alloys at loads approaching the yield point of the alloys. Electron-microscopical investigation reveals slip bands in the carbide phase at stresses close to, or equal to, the yield point of the alloys. This is observed both in the low-cobalt VK6 and the high-cobalt VK50 alloys, which may be attributed to their structures being similar in that they both exhibit continuous WC-WC grain contacts.