CSUTDCC1—A thermodynamic database for multicomponent cemented carbides

• A thermodynamic database for cemented carbides, CSUTDCC1, is developed.
• Some calculations about the control of alloy composition, sintering temperature, and the stability of cubic carbides are shown.
• The prediction of phase formation for some commercial alloys reported in the literature is performed.
• Some simulations of the gradient zone formation are presented.

The CALPHAD technique is a powerful tool for materials processing and alloy design. The quality of CALPHAD-type calculations is strongly dependent on the quality of the thermodynamic database. In this paper, a self-consistent thermodynamic database for multicomponent cemented carbides has been developed. The thermodynamic descriptions for all of the binary systems and some of the ternary systems are taken from the literature with slight modifications for some of the reported parameters. A large number of ternary systems are assessed or reassessed under the consideration of experimental data and/or the consistency of the database. Assessments of some higher-order systems are performed based on experimental information, in particular focusing on commercial cemented carbide systems. Some examples of simulations for different kinds of cemented carbides are shown using the thermodynamic database and compared where possible against experimental data, thereby validating its accuracy.