Research on properties of Re-doped WC-Co alloys

The properties of cemented carbide with Re contents were studied. Based on the first principles, a Re-doped WC-Co model was established. Due to Re doping, the mechanical properties of the cemented carbide were significantly improved. The cemented carbides with different Re contents were prepared and tested. It was found that the average grain size of WC decreased from 0.64 μm to 0.54 μm with the increase of the Re element, and the grain size became more uniform. The addition of Re element promotes the transformation from the face-centered cubic Co phase (fccCo) to the hexagonal close-packed Co phase (hcpCo). At the same time, the addition of Re element weakens the concentration of {0001} in WC hard phase texture and promotes the isotropy of WC grains. After adding Re, the number of high angle grain boundaries, WC/WC 90° grain boundaries and coincidence site lattice ∑² increases significantly. With the increase of Re content, the hardness and bending strength show an upward trend, and the fracture toughness did not decrease significantly. In addition, friction and wear tests on cemented carbide were performed. The cemented carbide with Re content of 0.1 wt% exhibited excellent wear-resistance. Milling experiments on Ti6Al4V were also conducted using cemented carbides with different compositions. Compared with T0812, the cutting life of T0890 can be increased by 78 %. Lay the foundation for the development of high performance tools.