Production of nanostructured WC–Co powder by ball milling

Formation of nanostructured WC compound by ball milling process was investigated through two different routes. First route involved the ball milling of preformed WC-17 wt.% Co powder while in second route the mechanical alloying of W–Co–C powder mixture was used. The results showed that ball milling of WC-17 wt.% Co readily led to nanocrystalline WC particles with a crystallite size of 15 nm. Annealing of this structure however caused a transition from WC phase to undesirable Co6W6C phase. Mechanical alloying of W–Co–C powder mixture did not yield WC phase whereas it was possible to produce nanocrystalline WC phase with a crystallite size of about 10 nm by mechanical alloying of W–C powder mixture.