Study on fracture of the fibrous monolith cemented carbide

Journal article, 2013

A fibrous monolith cemented carbide with WC-6%Co as cell and WC-20%Co as cell boundaries was produced through hot co-extrusion process in this paper. The density, hardness, transverse rupture strength (TRS) and fracture toughness (KIc) of the fibrous monolith cemented carbide were tested, and the fracture and crack propagation were observed by metalloscope and Scanning Electron Microscope. The result shows fibrous monolith structure design could effectively improve the TRS and the KIc of WC/Co cemented carbide without a significant decrease of hardness. It is the reason of high transverse rupture strength and fracture toughness that WC-20%Co can absorb more fracture energy in order to slow, prevent, or deflect crack propagation, proved by metalloscope and scanning electron microscope.