Effect of V, Cr and Mn additions on the microstructure of WC–Co

In this work, the impact of 0.5 at% additions of V, Cr and Mn on the microstructure of WC–Co is studied. Mn has negligible effect on the hardness, WC grain size, contiguity and fraction of Σ2 grain boundaries compared to the reference. Cr causes the material to become harder, have a higher contiguity and fraction of Σ2 grain boundaries. V results in the hardest material, the highest contiguity, the smallest grain size and the highest fraction of Σ2 grain boundaries.