Control of WC grain sizes and mechanical properties in WC–FeAl composite fabricated from vacuum sintering technique

•The authors tried to suppress WC grain growth during the sintering in WC–FeAl.•The addition of VC and/or Cr3C2 enabled to suppress the WC grain growth.•But these carbide inhibitors degraded the strength of WC–FeAl composites.•On the contrary, 1.6 wt.% of oxygen content also led to suppress the WC grain growth.•In this case, the strength increased compared to a sample of 1.2 wt.% oxygen.

This work addressed on size control of WC grains in WC–FeAl composite fabricated from vacuum sintering techniques. Carbide additives and oxygen were candidates for the size controller of WC grains. The carbide additives such as VC and Cr3C2 suppressed the WC grain growth, which was similar to WC–Co system. As a result, they improved Vickers hardness, but degraded transverse rupture strength. On the other hand, some amount of oxygen included in the composite also suppressed the WC grain growth but improved both the hardness and the strength. It is concluded that oxygen is one of the most effective size controller of WC grains in the WC–FeAl system.

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