Influence of WC and cobalt additions on the microstructural and mechanical properties of TiCN-Cr3C2-nano-TiB2 cermets fabricated by spark plasma sintering

This paper reports the effect of tungsten carbide (WC) and cobalt (Co) addition on the microstructural and mechanical properties of titanium carbonitride (TiCN) cermets modified by Cr3C2 and nano-TiB2 addition, processed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The addition of the WC and Co was varied from 0 to 15 wt%. The microstructure, hardness and fracture toughness of the developed cermets were studied. The hardness and fracture toughness of the cermets increased to 52% and 33%, respectively with WC additions. With Co additions the hardness decreased by 13%, but the fracture toughness increased by 9%. The cermet with 60%TiCN-15%WC-15%Co-5%Cr2C3-5% nano-TiB2 composition has shown balanced improvement in hardness (19.1 GPa) and toughness (8.4 MPa·m1/2). The machining performed by this cermet, developed minimum cutting force and surface roughness on the machined surface of the EN24 workpiece material.