Korean Journal of Materials Research ISSN:1225-0562(Print) 2287-7258(Online) 한국재료학회지

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 μm, 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.