Study on the effect of current on reactive sintering of the W-C-Co mixture under an electric field

Using Gleeble-1500D thermal simulation instrument, the effect of value of the direct current on the process of reactive sintering of W-C-Co mixture was investigated. It was shown that the composition of sintering products depended on the magnitude of the current intensity and the electric field was not only providing the Joule heat for a compact, but also accelerating the diffusion among atoms in the sintering process. X-ray and microscopic analysis of sintering products suggest that the solid-state reaction takes place at a relatively lower temperature by passing through the samples with current intensities between 20,000 and 30,000 A. Moreover, as the current increases, the TTE becomes lower. At the same time, the relative strength of WC diffraction peaks in XRD diagram increases while that of W2C decreases.