WC/Ti Composite Material Enriched with CBN Particles Produced by Pulse Plasma Sintering (PPS)

Tungsten carbide (WC) and WCCo powders added with 30 vol.% cubic boron nitride (cBN) and 5 and 12 wt% of Ti were sintered by the pulse plasma sintering (PPS) technique. The sintering process was conducted under a load of 75 MPa at a pressure of 5.10- 5 mbar and a temperature of 1100-1500°C for 5min. The phase composition, density, hardness and microstructure of the sintered material thus obtained were examined. In the cBN-WCTi5wt% composite with an addition of 6wt% Co, the cBN particles are well bound with the matrix. The transcrystalline fractures of the cBN particles also indicate that the binding forces between these particles and the WCCoTi matrix exceed the matrix cohesion. The interfaces between the cBN grains and the surrounding matrix are almost straight lines, and no reactions between the cBN grains and the matrix were revealed in SEM observations.