Densification and alloying of microwave sintering WC-8 wt.%Co composites

In this paper, the densification and microstructural evolution of microwave fabricated WC-8Co composites were studied. Experimental results showed that shrinkage rate increased at 1275-1325 degrees C. The shape of most WC grains was turned into truncated trigonal prism at 1300 degrees C for 5 min. The apparent activation energy of WC coarsening in microwave prepared alloy was 84.48 Kcal/mol, which was much lower than that in vacuum sintering. Finally, the local liquid phase sintering mechanism of microwave sintered WC-Co cemented carbide based on the hot spots formation was proposed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.