A facile route to synthesize WC-Co nanocomposite powders and properties of sintered bulk

In this work, a core-shell structured precursor was used to prepare WC-Co composite powders, and then the bulk materials has been fabricated using rapid hot-pressing sintering (HP) technique. The microstructure and phase composition were characterized by XRD, TG-DSC, SEM and TEM. The Vickers hardness, transverse rupture strength and relative density were also measured. Owing to the special precursor, the pure phase composite powders with an average grain size of 80 nm were obtained in short-term at mild condition. The as-prepared bulk sample exhibits homogeneous microstructure and good mechanical properties. Compared with the conventional methods, both the time and temperature in present route of in-situ reaction and HP sintering are apparently reduced. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.