Influence of WC Grain Size and Co Mass Content on Mechanical Properties of WC-Co Cemented Carbides
Shingo OKAMOTO, Kakuroh OHTUKA, Yuji NAKAZONO, Yoshinobu SHIMOITANI and Jun TAKADA
Abstract:The mechanical properties of WC-Co cemented carbides were investigated in order to find the way to lengthen the lives of the bits including WC-Co cemented carbides, installed in tunnel boring machines. The compression and bending tests were first carried out using the test pieces made of the WC-Co cemented carbides including Co of 10%, of which grain size was 3，6，20 or 30［μm］, and the ones of which grain size was 20［μm］, including Co of 5, 10, 15 or 20%. The finite-element analysis was performed to find the tensile strength using the results of the compression and bending tests. We were able to draw an interesting results as follows : WC-Co cemented carbides of which grain size is 20 or 30［μm］has the property of ductility, while the ones of which grain size is 3 or 6［μm］has the property of brittleness. Key Words:WC-Co cemented carbides, WC grain size, Co mass content, Ductility, Brittleness, Strength