Abrasion and Erosion of WC-Co with Controlled Microstructures

The influence of microstructure on room-temperature abrasive and erosive wear resistance of selected WC-Co materials was examined. Cermets containing 6 and 12 w/o Co were processed under controlled conditions to produce materials with three WC grain sizes: fine—0.8 μm; medium—1.4 μm; or coarse—2.7 μm. The hardness, fracture toughness and microstructural parameters of the resulting six grades were determined. Diamond abrasive wear tests showed that the wear resistance of these WC-Co materials to abrasion depends more strongly on the WC grain size than on the cobalt content, while the wear resistance to Al2O3-particle gas-jet erosion shows a strong dependence on the cobalt content and less on WC pain size. Presented at the 44th Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia May 1–4, 1989