TO DEVISE A PROCESSING ROUTE FOR MANUFACTURING VERY FINE-GRAINED WC-CO HARDMETALS THAT HAVE HIGH REPRODUCIBILITY AND RELIABILITY.
SUBSTITUTION OF HIGH SPEED STEELS BY HARDMETALS IS A MAJOR AIM.

THE WORK WILL BE PERFORMED IN THREE STAGES:
- EXAMINATION AND TESTING OF AVAILALE VERY FINE-GRAIENED HARDMETALS AND POWDERS;
- INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF VARYING THE PROCESSING TREATMENT ON THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF THE POWDER, AND ON THE MICROSTRUCTURE, MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, AND WEAR PERFORMANCE OF THE SINTERED PRODUCT;
- PERFORMANCE TESTING OF PRODUCTS.
IN THE FIRST AND THIRD PHASE, THE MOCROSTRUCTURE OF THE POWDERS WILL BE MEASURED BY THIN FILM AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY. VARIOUS MILLING AND ANNELING TREATMENTS WILL BE APPLIED TO THE POWDERS TO ASE WHETHER ALTERING THE DEFECT CONCENTRATION (DISLOCATION DENSITY) OF THE CARBIDES WILL REDUCE THE STORED ENERGY AND DECREASE THE TENDENCY FOR GRAIN CORSENING. THE HARDMETALS WILL BE MANUFACTURED BY LOW TEMPERATURE SINTERING AND BY HOT PRESSING, AND THE EFFECT OF GRAIN-GROWTH INHIBITORS SUCH AS CHROMIUM AND VANADIUM WILL BE STUDIED. A CORRELATION WILL BE SOUGHT BETWEEN GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND CARBON CONTENT, AND RESULTS OF MEASUREMENTS OF COMPRESSIVE PROPERTIES, FRACTURE TOUGHNESS, RESISTANCE TO ABRASIVE AND ATTRITION WEAR, FOR THE EXPERIMENTED HARDMETALS AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. SAMPLES FROM THE WEAR AND STRENGTH TESTS WILL BE EXAMINED BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY TO WEAR AND STRENGTH TESTS WILL BE EXAMINED BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY TO SEE WHETHER THE OBJECTIVES, OF DECREASING ATTRITION WEAR AND REMOVING FRACTURE INITIATION SOURCES, HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED.
SOME HIGH TEMPERATURE COMPRESSIVE TESTING WILL BE PERFORMED TO SEE WHETHER THE NEW PROCESSING ROUTES HAVE ELIMINATED THE PROBLEM OF POOR CREEP RESISTANCE, THAT IS CHARACTERISTIC OF FINE-GRAINED HARDMETALS. INCLUSION OF METAL CUTTING IN THE PERFORMANCE TESTING SCHEDULE MAY BE INCLUDED IF THE RESULTS ARE FAVOURABLE.
THE THIRD STAGE OF THE PROJECT WILL INVOLVE MANUFACTURING AND TESTING OF TOOLS FOR APROPRIATE CUTTING APPLICATIONS. IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE PRACTICAL OF THE HARDMETALS, THE RESULTS WILL BE STUDIED TO SEE TO WHAT EXTENT SERVICE PERFORMANCE CAN BE CORRELATED WHIT THE RESULTS OF THE LABORATORY TESTS. SIMILARY, WEAR SURFACE OF THE WORN TOOLS WILL BE COMPARED WITH THE SURFACES OF THE SAMPLES USED IN LABORATORY WEAR TESTS.
LEDERMAN, FRG, (SUM-048-D) WILL BE CLOSELY INVOLVED IN VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THIS PROJECT.