Preparation of warm compacted and sintered WC/carbon steel composite and its wear-resistance

The WC particulates (0.076mm similar to 0.100mm in size) and carbon steel (0.45wt% C) are selected as a reinforced phase and matrix in the composites. The techniques of warm compaction are systematically investigated with powder metallurgy solid phase sintering method. The performance of sliding friction wear of the composites is tested on a pin on disk tester. The test results of warm compaction show that the composites sample containing 50% WC and 50% steel possesses the perfect compaction density (9.4362g/cm(3)) and the relative density reaches 91.6% under the condition of 140 C compaction temperature, 320KN stress, and lubricated with zinc stearate. The results of wear test show that the composite sample under the condition of warm compaction gains the best wear property, and the relative wear resistance is the 2.9 times of 15Cr cast iron, 2.6 times of 20Cr cast iron and 2.8 times of the composite sample under the condition of room temperature compaction. And the wear mechanism of the particle-reinforced composites is analyzed using SEM.