PRODUCING SUPERHARD MATERIALS BY MODIFYING ULTRADISPERSED TUNGSTEN CARBIDE ALLOYS WITH BORON CONTAINING QUASIEUTETIC

Tungsten carbide (WC) based materials, characterized by high hardness and wear resistance, have long been widely used in the production of cutting and mining tools. To further improve functional performance, they are alloyed or modified with various ceramic phases. A team of researchers from the Ferdinand Tavadze Metallurgy and Materials Science Institute (MMI) obtained ultradispersed powders of hard metalceramic alloys—tungsten carbide–cobalt (WC–Co) and tungsten carbide–titanium carbide–cobalt (WC–TiC–Co)—modified with a quasieutectic ceramic alloy—boron carbide–titanium diboride (B₄C–TiB₂), as well as their compacts of complex shapes. The advantages of this modifier are: (1) Hardness almost as high as that of pure boron carbide and (2) Electrical and thermal conductivity several orders of magnitude higher, enabling rapid compaction while preventing a decrease in dispersion.