Study on Microstructure and Properties of Fullerene-doped WC-Co Cemented Carbide

In order to solve the difficulty of reconciling the hardness，fracture toughness and wear resistance of WC-Co cemented carbide, fullerene was used as a reinforcement phase owing to its unique spherical structure and excellent mechanical properties. Fullerene was doped into WC-Co cemented carbide powders by mechanical stirring ball milling, and WC-Co cemented carbides with different fullerene contents were prepared by spark plasma sintering(SPS). The effects of fullerene content on the microstructure and properties of cemented carbide were studied. The results show that the fullerene content has a significant effect on the microstructure and properties of WC-Co cemented carbide. When the fullerene content is 0.1wt%, the average grain size of WC-Co reaches the minimum of 766 nm, and the hardness reaches the maximum of 2.436 GPa. When the fullerene content is 1.0wt%, the fracture toughness of the alloy reaches the maximum of 13.09 MPa·m^1/2. Compared with WC-10Co alloy without fullerene doping, the maximum hardnese and maximum fracture toughness are increased by 39.8% and 57.1%, respectively. When fullerene content is 0.5wt%, the cemented carbide has the best tribological performance, and its wear mechanism is abrasive wear.