Patent Application
20100101368
This application relates to functionally graded cemented tungsten carbide materials that contain a cobalt gradient. These materials may be abbreviated as WC—Co materials. Such materials may be used for metal cutting tools, rock drilling tools for oil exploration, mining, construction and road working tools and many other metal-working tools, metal-forming tools, metal-shaping tools, and other applications. For background information, the reader should consult U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0276717, which patent application is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
As explained in the prior patent publication noted above, it is desirable to construct a cemented tungsten carbide material (“WC” material) that includes an amount of cobalt. These materials are referred to as WC—Co materials. It is desirable to construct a WC—Co material that has a combination of toughness and wear-resistance.
Cemented tungsten carbide (WC—Co), consisting of large volume fractions of WC particles in a cobalt matrix, is one of the most widely used industrial tool materials for metal machining, metal forming, mining, oil and gas drilling and all other applications. Compared with conventional cemented WC—Co, functionally graded cemented tungsten carbide (FGM WC—Co) with a Co gradient spreading from the surface to the interior of a sintered piece offers a superior combination of mechanical properties. For example, FGM WC—Co with a lower Co content in the surface region demonstrates better wear-resistance performance, resulting from the combination of a harder surface and a tougher core. Though the potential advantages of FGM WC—Co are easily understood, manufacturing of FGM WC—Co is however a difficult challenge. Cemented WC—Co is typically sintered via liquid phase sintering (LPS) process in vacuum. Unfortunately, when WC—Co with an initial cobalt gradient is subjected to liquid phase sintering, migration of the liquid Co phase occurs and the gradient of Cobalt is easily eliminated.
The present embodiments relate to a new method of forming a WC—Co composite that has a hard and wear resistant surface layer and tough core. A material with a hard surface and a tough core may be one in which the hardness of the surface is higher than that of the center of the interior by at least 30 Vickers hardness number using standard Vickers hardness testing method under 10 to 50 kilogram load. In a preferred embodiment, the hard wear resistant surface layer is comprised of the WC—Co with graded cobalt content. The cobalt content at the surface is significantly lower than that of the nominal composition of the bulk. The cobalt content increases as a function of the depth from the surface and can reach and even surpass the nominal composition of the composite at a certain depth. The interior of the composite beyond the surface layer, that is the bulk of the material, has a nominal cobalt composition. The method for making such a functionally graded composite involves heat-treating a pre-sintered WC—Co in a carbon rich atmosphere. The heat-treating can be accomplished by either as an added step to the standard sintering thermal cycle in the same sintering run, or a separate thermal cycle after the sintering is completed. The heat treatment must be carried out within a temperature range in which the tungsten carbide WC coexists with liquid as well as solid cobalt. The base WC—Co composite has a nominal carbon content that is sub-stoichiometric before heat treatment. The carbon content of the base WC—Co composite is high enough such that there is no η-phase in the composite at any temperature at any time during the sintering and heat treatment process, or after sintering and heat-treatment.
The present embodiments include a method of preparing a functionally graded cemented tungsten carbide material, the method comprising preparing a WC—Co powder, compacting the powder, sintering the powder, and heat treating the sintered body within a specified temperature range in a furnace having a carburizing atmosphere, wherein the material, after the heat treating step, comprises a surface layer with lower Co content than that of the nominal value of the bulk of the material. The WC—Co powder before sintering has sub-stoichiometric carbon content. In other embodiments, the WC—Co powder has sub-stoichiometric carbon content that is higher than the carbon content that would result in the formation of η-phase in the material at any temperature at any time during or after sintering and/or heat treatment. In further embodiments, the atmosphere is a carburizing gas mixture, preferably formed by a methane-hydrogen mixture with the partial pressure ratio of (PH2)2/PCH4 ranging from 1000 to 10, preferably within the range of 600 to 100. Other embodiments may be designed in which the sintering and heat treating are conducted in one furnace run without removing the material from the furnace after the sintering step. The heat treatment step may be performed at a temperature of 1300° C. In other embodiments, the heat treatment step may occur between 1260 and 1330° C. Additional embodiments are designed in which the temperature range for carburizing heat treatment is the range in which solid tungsten carbide WC, liquid cobalt, and solid cobalt coexist. Yet further embodiments are designed in which the sintering and heat treating are conducted in two separate furnaces, i.e. two separate thermal cycles.
Additional embodiments are designed in which the functionally graded WC—Co comprises a harder surface layer and tougher core. In some embodiments, the cobalt content of the surface layer has is less than 90% of the bulk interior or the nominal average value of the composite. Other embodiments are designed in which the cobalt content of the composite increases as a function of the depth from the surface until it reaches or surpasses the nominal average cobalt content of the composite. The surface layer may have a thickness greater than 10 micrometers. Other embodiments may have the surface layer have a thickness less than 10% of the over thickness or relevant dimension of the component. Further embodiments are designed in which the WC—Co powder contains one or combinations of the following elements and/or of their carbides: titanium, tantalum, chromium, molybdenum, niobium, and vanadium.
In order that the manner in which the above-recited and other features and advantages of the invention are obtained will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
The presently preferred embodiments of the present invention will be best understood by reference to the Figures, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. It will be readily understood that the components, steps, etc. of the present invention, as generally described herein and illustrated in any applicable drawings, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, as represented in Figures is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative of presently preferred embodiments of the invention.
The present embodiments involve constructing WC—Co materials using liquid phase sintering, which are prepared according to standard methods, and an uniquely designed heat treatment process. Such methods include preparing a WC—Co powder (which includes a mixture of WC, W, C, and cobalt powders), compacting the powders together. In some embodiments, the powders will be compacted using known techniques, such as using uniaxial cold dies pressing methods. After compaction, the powder may then be sintered according to standard sintering procedures, such as at 1400° C. under a vacuum. As is known in the art, such sintering processes produce a homogeneous WC—Co material, with the amount of Co in the WC matrix being equal (homogenous or substantially homogenous) throughout the entire sample.
In the present embodiments, however, an additional step must be performed to produce desired functionally graded (FGM) WC—Co composite. This step is a “heat treatment” step. This heat treatment step is conducted either in the same sintering furnace run without removing the sample from the furnace, or in another furnace in a separate thermal cycle, i.e. heat treatment run. The desired FGM WC—Co has a high hardness and wear-resistant surface layer and a tough core.
In a preferred embodiment, the hard wear resistant surface layer is comprised of the WC—Co with graded cobalt content. The cobalt content at the surface is significantly lower than that of the nominal composition of the bulk. Nominal composition is the average composition of the material regardless whether it is homogeneous or graded. The cobalt content increases as a function of the depth from the surface and can reach and even surpass the nominal composition of the composite at a certain depth. The interior of the composite beyond the surface layer, that is the bulk of the material, has a nominal cobalt composition. The cobalt content at the surface is less than 90% of the nominal composition. The depth of the surface layer, defined as the thickness from the surface to the depth at which the cobalt composition gradually rises up to equal that of the bulk interior, i.e. the nominal composition, must be great than 10 microns.
To manufacture the said preferred product, the following method is described.
WC—Co powder mixtures are prepared according to standard manufacturing procedures as used in the industry.
The WC—Co powder must have a carbon content that is sub-stoichiometric, or carbon deficient relative to stoichiometry as it is known in the industry. Stoichiometric carbon content of WC by its formula is 6.125% by weight. After cobalt is added, total carbon content will decrease proportionally depending on the cobalt content. The stoichiometric carbon content of a WC—Co composite, designated as Cs-comp, can be expressed as Cs-comp=6.125×(1-wt % Co/100). For example, if the cobalt content of a WC—Co is 10 wt %, then the total stoichiometric carbon content of the composite is 5.513 wt %. According to this invention, the carbon content of the starting powder mixture of WC—Co must be smaller than Cs-comp.
Another aspect of the invention regarding the carbon content of the starting material is that it must be high enough such that there is no η-phase in the composite at any temperature at any time during the sintering and heat treatment process, or after sintering and heat-treatment. η-phase is an undesired brittle complex carbide of W and Co with a typical formula of Co3W3C, that forms when the total carbon content is excessively low. The minimum carbon content in sintered WC—Co with no η-phase, designated as Cη, will decrease with increasing cobalt content. For example, if the cobalt content of a WC—Co is 10 wt %, then the minimum total carbon content of the composite is 5.390 wt %. Therefore, for a WC—Co with 10 wt % Co, the total carbon content of the starting WC—Co powder mixture should be within the range of 5.390 to 5.513 wt %. In other words, according to this invention, the total carbon content of the starting WC—Co powder mixture should be greater than Cη and smaller than Cs-comp.
Another aspect of the invention is that the heat treatment must be carried out within a temperature range in which the solid tungsten carbide (WC) phase coexists with liquid as well as solid cobalt phase, i.e. a three phase coexisting range. This is an important factor to insure that significant cobalt gradient can be obtained. Typically the temperature for heat treatment is between 1250 to 1330° C. When carbides of other transitional elements such as V, Cr, Ta, Ti, and Mo, are added, the temperature will trend lower because the temperature range for the three phase region will be lower.
Another aspect of the invention is that the heat treatment must be carried out in a carburizing atmosphere, which may be chosen from a large variety of gases and gas mixtures at a pressure ranging from higher than 1 atm to lower than 10 torr. If the mixture of methane and hydrogen is used, the value of (PH2)2/PCH4, which is inversely proportional to the carburizing ability of this gas mixture, needs to be not larger than 1000.
Yet another aspect of the invention is that the heat treatment process can be carried out as an added step to the standard sintering cycle without removing the specimens from the furnace. In other words, the desired FGM WC—Co material can be produced in one thermal cycle from powder. This is possible because of the kinetic rate of the cobalt gradient formation is sufficiently fast. A separate treatment procedure may also be used if so desired due to other non-technical reasons.
The principles of the present invention are further elaborated as follows.
In many embodiments, WC—Co powders with 10% Co by weight were used as examples. It should be noted that this invention and the principles outlined herein apply to other WC—Co materials with differing nominal percentages of cobalt. For example, the same gradient and procedures may be used for WC—Co materials having a nominal cobalt percentage ranging from 6 to 25%. It should also be understood that Co can be substituted in part or in whole by other transition metals such as nickel (Ni) and/or (Fe).
The composition of WC—Co used for demonstration is listed in Table 1, where 10Co(C-) indicates that the total Co content is 10 wt % and the total C content is sub-stoichiometric. Tungsten powder was added to commercial WC powder and cobalt powder to reduce the total carbon content. The powder mixtures were ball milled in heptane for four hours in an attritor mill. The milled powders were dried in a Rotovap at 80° C. and then cold-pressed at 200 MPa into green compacts of 2×0.5×0.7 cm3 in dimension. The green compacts were sintered in vacuum at 1400° C. for one hour.
Carburizing heat treatments of sintered samples were conducted in atmospheres of mixed methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2). The heat treatments were conducted at three temperatures—1400° C., 1300° C. and 1250° C. As pointed out earlier, 1300° C. is selected because the carburization conducted in a three-phase region is expected to create desired Co gradient, while the other two temperatures (1400° C. and 1250° C.) outside the three-phase region are chosen for comparison. 1400° C. is the typical liquid sintering temperature in the WC—Co(1) two phase region, while at 1250° C., the system is completely at solid state. The effect of time is investigated by holding at 1300° C. for 15 minutes to 180 minutes. To study the effect of carburizing atmosphere, gas mixtures of varied H2-to-CH4 ratios with (PH2)2/PCH4 in the range of 150 to 300 were used.
The treated samples would be compared with un-treated samples to examine the effect of atmosphere. To analyze the samples, the cross-sections of specimens were polished and etched with Murakami's reagent for 10 seconds to determine if there was any Co3W3C (η phase) present. Cobalt concentration profiles perpendicular to the surface were measured using the Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) technique. Each data point of the cobalt content is an averaged value obtained by scanning a 10 μm by 140 μm rectangular area on the polished surface. The standard variation of the data is less than 10% of the measured cobalt content.
Effects of Temperature on the Formation of Co Gradient
As described herein, sintered specimens were heat treated at three temperatures 1400° C., 1300° C. and 1250° C.
As shown in
Before heat treatment, the microstructure of the sintered sample (
However, as shown in
This result indicates that the Co-gradient structure without formation of free graphite or η phase is developed by a carburizing heat treatment at the temperature at which liquid-Co and solid-Co coexists. A temperature of 1300° C. is thus selected for demonstrating the effects of other factors on the formation of a Co-gradient.
Effect of Gas Ratio of Atmosphere on the Formation of Co Gradient
Because the liquid phase migration is induced by the gradient of carbon content from the surface to the interior of the specimens, the chemical potential of carbon in the atmosphere with respect to that of the specimen is logically an important factor. To study the effects of carbon potentials, the heat treating atmospheres are controlled by varying H2/CH4 ratios with (PH2)2/PCH4 ranging from 300 to 150. The sintered specimen was heat treated at 1300 ° C. for 60 minutes.
Effects of Holding Time on the Formation of Co Gradient
The heat treatment time effect is also an important aspect of the Co gradient formation. In this study, the specimen were heat treated in a fixed atmosphere with (PH2)2 /PCH4=200 at a fixed temperature of 1300° C. The heat treatment time varied from 15 minutes to 180 minutes.
A Co gradient is observed in each of the treated specimens as plotted in
The results outlined herein clearly demonstrated that a Co-gradient at the surface region can be created by carburizing heat treatment of pre-sintered WC—Co. Although not being limited or bound by this theory, it is hypothesized that the formation of the Co gradient are the results of two processes: (1) carbon diffusion due to the gradient of carbon content, and (2) liquid Co migration induced by the gradient of volume fraction of liquid phase as a function of carbon content. The mechanism of the Co gradient formation is discussed herein.
The experimental results in this study clearly demonstrated that a Co-gradient at the surface region can be created through carbonization heat treatment of pre-sintered WC—Co. This appears to be similar to what occurs during the DP carbide fabrication process according to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,453,241, 5,549,980, and 5,856,626.
In the DP carbide process, η phase is required. It exists before and after carbonization heat treatment during while the η phase reacts with carbon to form WC and cobalt. The reaction releases a lot of liquid Co which causes a transient increase of cobalt content in the local region that migrates and forms a layer with cobalt gradient. As pointed out earlier, η phase is undesired in WC—Co composites because of its brittleness, especially it is detrimental in the final product. In order to mitigate its embrittlement effects to the entire composite, the surface layer must be made sufficiently thick, which in turns limit the effectiveness of the layered structure. The product according to DP carbide process is a hard surface with an harder and more brittle core. The product of this invention, however, is a hard surface with softer and tougher core. In addition, the product of this invention does no require the surface layer to be significantly thick. In fact, to achieve best wear-resistance and toughness combination, the thickness of the surface layer with graded cobalt composition should be less than 10% of the overall thickness or relevant dimension of the components.
Furthermore, the current invention requires that the carbon content of the starting powder mixture to be higher than Cη and the composite contains no η phase at any temperature at any time during or after the sintering and heat treatment process.
Furthermore, the current invention requires that the carburizing heat treatment to be carried out within the three-phase temperature range, while the DP carbide technology relies on heat treatment at liquid phase sintering temperature which is in the two-phase temperature range.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its structures, methods, or other essential characteristics as broadly described herein and claimed hereinafter. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative, and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
