Influence of different post treatments on microstructure and properties of WC-Co cemented carbides

• Martensitic phase transformation of Co phase was analyzed by XRD Rietveld-refining.
• Effects of post treatment on W solubility in the binder were analyzed by EPMA.
• Morphology of WC grains before and after post treatments were observed.
• Properties of WC–Co material subjected to different post treatments were compared.

Effects of different post treatments on microstructure and properties of WC–11 wt.% Co cemented carbides were investigated in this paper. The different post treatments that are carried out to the cemented carbides are (a) heating and quenching in oil bath, (b) controlled cryogenic treatment. Various mechanical and microstructural characterization of these alloys including density, coercive force, hardness, transverse rupture strength, phase composition, W solubility of the cobalt phase, martensitic phase transformation of the cobalt phase and WC grain shape were analyzed before and after post treatments. The experimental results show that post treatments have a significant influence on WC–Co cemented carbides and the details of the experimental study are presented in this paper.