Spark plasma sintering on nanometer scale WC–Co powder

Nanometer scale WC–11Co powder was sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process in order to improve the properties of the cemented carbides. Properties such as density and hardness were measured. The microstructures of sintered WC–11Co cemented carbides were observed. The grain size of WC in alloys was also obtained. The results showed that spark plasma sintering could lower the sintering temperature, increased the density and circumscribed the growth of grain size of WC. Besides, the hardness of the sintered cemented alloys that was dependent on the grain size and densification could also be improved by SPS. SPS was an effective method to get WC–11Co cemented carbides with fine grain size and good properties.