Carbon-Dispersed WCFeAl Hard Material Fabricated by Mechanical Milling and Subsequent Pulsed Current Sintering

A new metal mold material for pulsed current sintering (PCS) methods at high temperatures with higher electrical resistivity than cemented carbide molds, was fabricated using mechanical milling and PCS. The constituent (100 1 x)(WC­10 or 30FeAl) + xC (x = 0­8; mass%) hard material with dispersed spherical carbon particles were synthesized via mechanical milling of the source powders and PCS. The three-point flexural strength and electrical resistivity of the hard material decreased and increased with an increase in the carbon content, respectively. The 98(WC­10FeAl) + 2C alloy showed a flexural strength of 1GPa and resistivity of 0.59 © 10143 cm. The material did not exhibit plastic deformation at 1073K at 100MPa under compression. The metal mold made from the 97(WC­10FeAl) + 3C was used for PCS at 1073K at 200MPa, suggesting that the carbon-dispersed WC­FeAl hard material was capable of being employed as a new mold material for the PCS method. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2014081]