Effect of microstructure on edge wear mechanisms in WC-Co

Edge wear of nano to coarse WC-Co grades was investigated under two-body abrasion conditions using SiC abrasive at 2 and 15 N loads. With the fine abrasive utilized, a transition from homogeneous plowing in submicron grades to inhomogeneous grains pullout in coarse hardmetals was observed at the beginning stages. At final stages, plowing was detected in all the grades. When using the coarse abrasive, for all grades, flaking at the beginning and plowing at the final stages occurred. The performed numerical finite element simulation of the microstructural mechanical response showed good agreement to experimental results and was discussed in relation to the operative wear mechanisms observed. The found results demonstrated a remarkable influence of microstructure and abrasive size on the heterogeneous to homogeneous wear mechanisms transition at initial stages.