Production of nanostructured WC-Co powder by ball milling

Formation of nanostructured WC compound by ball milling process was investigated through two different routes. First route involved the ball milling of preformed WC-17 wt.% Co powder while in second route the mechanical alloying of W-Co-C powder mixture was used. The results showed that ball milling of WC-17 wt.% Co readily led to nanocrystalline WC particles with a crystallite size of 15 mn. Annealing of this structure however caused a transition from WC phase to undesirable Co6W6C phase. Mechanical alloying of W-Co-C powder mixture did not yield WC phase whereas it was possible to produce nanocrystalline WC phase with a crystallite size of about 10 nm by mechanical alloying of W-C powder mixture. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.