Spark plasma sintering of WC-based cermets/titanium and vanadium added composites: A comparative study on the microstructure and mechanical properties

In an attempt to develop the composition and properties of W2C-(W,Ti)C-TiC and WC-WC1-x-VC-V super hardmetals, spark plasma sintering (SPS) method was implemented. WC powders were mixed separately with 10 wt% Ti and 10 wt% V in a high energy mixer mill and sintering processes were performed at temperatures of 2150 and 2000 °C, respectively. XRD investigations revealed the formations of TiC and (Ti,W)C as the reaction products in WC-10 wt% Ti composite. Moreover, the interfacial reaction between WC and V led to the formation of WC1-x and VC compounds. A higher bending strength (613 ± 25 MPa) and fracture toughness (4.1 ± 0.58 MPa m1/2) were obtained for WC-10 wt% V samples compared to WC-10 wt% Ti, While the WC-10 wt% Ti composite showed a higher value of hardness (3128 ± 42 Vickers) in comparison to WC-10 wt% V (2632 ± 39 Vickers), which can act as a super hard cermet.