Wear mechanisms of WC–10Ni3Al carbide tool in dry turning of Ti6Al4V

•WC based cemented carbides using Ni3Al binder were prepared through spark plasma sintering (SPS).•The cutting performance of WC–10Ni3Al in turning of Ti6Al4V was firstly investigated.•WC–10Ni3Al has higher cutting performance than that of WC–8Co in dry turning of Ti6Al4V.•The excellent crater and flank wear resistance of WC–10Ni3Al was attributed to Ni3Al binder.

The current investigation studied the possible beneficial effect of Ni3Al binder on WC-based cemented carbides in dry machining of a titanium alloy. The WC-10 wt.% Ni3Al carbide tool was prepared through spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The cutting performance and wear mechanism of WC–10Ni3Al in continuous turning of Ti6Al4V were also discussed by analyzing the morphologies and compositions of worn surfaces of the carbide. The commercial available WC–8Co has also been tested under the same conditions for the purpose of comparison. The results showed that the WC–10Ni3Al has better cutting performance than WC–8Co, especially at the higher cutting speed of vc = 100 m/min. The excellent crater and flank wear resistance of WC–10Ni3Al was attributed to its synergistic mechanism of chemical inertness and high hardness induced by the intermetallic alloy Ni3Al binder at elevated temperature.