Mechanical Properties and Rapid Sintering of Nanostructured WC-Al₂O₃-Al Hard Materials.

Nanostructured WC-Al₂O₃-Al composites was sintered using rapid high-frequency induction heated sintering (HFIHS) and the mechanical properties such as hardness and fracture toughness with consolidation were investigated. The HFIHS method induced a very fast densification nearly at the level of theoretical density and successfully prohibited grain growth, resulting in nano-sized grains. The fracture toughness was improved due to the consolidation facilitated by adding Al to WC-Al₂O₃ matrix. The WC-Al₂O₃ composites added with 5 and 10 vol.% Al showed higher hardness and fracture toughness compared with that of WC-Al₂O₃.