Densification and sintering shrinkage of Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co

Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co powder exhibits faceted WC crystal shape while virgin WC-Co powder can have rounded WC particles. During sintering, the WC grains in Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co powder remain faceted while virgin WC-Co retains its rounded WC shape until the later stages of sintering. The effect of the shape of WC grains in Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co on its densification behavior is not fully understood. The effect of WC crystal shape on the densification of Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co during sintering is investigated. The shrinkage of Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co is measured by dilatometry and found to lag behind the shrinkage of virgin WC-Co after the first densification stage during solid state sintering. There is a greater lag in the shrinkage of coarse grained Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co than fine grained Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co relative to the corresponding virgin WC-Co. The role of packing density on the densification of Zinc Reclaimed WC-Co during solid state sintering is discussed.