Dissimilar Welding and Joining of Cemented Carbides

Cemented carbides have been widely used in aerospace, biomedical/wearable sensor, automobile, microelectronic, and other manufacturing industries owing to their superior physical and chemical properties at elevated temperatures. These superior properties, however, make it difficult to process these materials using conventional manufacturing methods. In this article, an overview of the welding and joining processes of cemented carbide and steel is given, followed by a few examples of welding processes. Cemented carbides can be successfully joined by sinter-bonding, brazing and soldering, laser beam welding, tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, diffusion welding, friction welding, electron-beam welding, and chemical vapor deposition. An overview of the benefits and drawbacks of brazing and soldering of cemented carbide and steel is presented, including reports on joint design, processes, and selection of brazing filler metals. The laser welding of cemented carbide and steel is addressed and reviewed, including reports on gap bridging ability, the inclusion/absence of filler metals, interlayers, and laser/TIG hybrid welding. Finally, a section is devoted to explaining the main issues remaining in the welding and joining of cemented carbide, corresponding solutions, and future work required.