Effect of tungsten carbide nanoparticles on mechanical properties and sinterability of B4C-WC nanocomposites using pressureless sintering method

The effect of tungsten carbide (WC) nanoparticles on sinterability and mechanical properties of boron carbide is investigated in this study. Boron carbide, being one of the hardest materials nowadays, has a variety of applications in wear-resistant components such as cutting tools. The low strength and low fracture toughness property of this material is the drawback in its application. Production of high density boron carbide is a problem due to its covalent bonds, low plasticity, surface energy and self-diffusion ratio, high resistance to slide in the grain boundaries etc… Boron carbide samples containing 5,10,20 and 30 vol.% WC were manufactured by firstly cold press and then sintering at three elevated temperatures of 2150 °C, 2200 °C and 2250 °C. It observed that addition of WC nanoparticles results in increase in mechanical properties and density of boron carbide. The highest increase is in the 30 vol.% sample with sintering temperature of 2250 °C were the density is improved by 23%, hardness by 33%, Young's modulus by 53%, and fracture toughness by 38% compared to pure boron carbide.