Microchemical and microstructural changes of Co cemented WC induced by ion implantation

Changes in the microchemistry and microstructure of cobalt cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) hard alloy which were implanted with energetic Ta ions. with and without an additional C ion beam, have been investigated. Ion implantation was carried out at room temperature using a metal vapor vacuum are source ion implanter. The extraction voltage and average current density of the ion beam was 45 kV and 50 muA/cm(2). respectively, The concentration depth profiles and microstructure of implanted the WC-Co alloy were analyzed by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Auger electron spectroscopy. and glancing angle X-ray diffraction. respectively. The results showed that as compared with the control. there were no significant microstructural changes in the tungsten carbide phase of implanted WC-Co alloy substrates both Ta implantation and Ta + C dual implantation induced a transformation from a metastable cubic form to a stable hcp form of cobalt binder phase, (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.