Tungsten carbide powder obtained by direct carburization of tungsten trioxide using mechanical alloying method

•Mechanical alloying enables to carry out direct carburizing of tungsten trioxide.•A first approximation thermodynamic study of WO3 carburization was conducted.•The totality of tungsten oxide was transformed into carbide.•The D50 value was 6.73 μm and the crystallite size in the 15–40 nm range.

Tungsten carbide is widely used in the production of cutting tools and parts with very good resistance to wear. It is well known that the properties of sintered carbides are closely related to the carbide particles size. Tungsten carbide production is a laborious process, which always includes a milling step. This article aims to study the manufacturing of tungsten carbide by carburizing tungsten trioxide using mechanical alloying (MA) method, thus concentrating the process in one step. Experimental tests were performed with a Fritch planetary mill and complete conversion of tungsten trioxide in carbide was observed after 30 h of milling. The average value of D50 for the synthetized WC is 6.73 ± 0.62 μm.

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