Effect of Fe impurities and pure Cr additions on microstructure of nanostructured WC-10Co alloy sintered by HIP

The present work evaluates the effect of both, Fe impurities and Cr addition, in nanostructured WC-10Co cemented carbides, which are sintered by hot isostatic pressing. Fe impurities and Cr addition in nanostructured WC-10Co alloy generate a series of microstructural and structural changes in the morphology, present phases, crystallite size and density, which in turn influences the microhardness of the samples. Such changes are mainly related to the nature of binder, generation of a bimodal grain size distribution and an abnormal grain growth of the WC phase and the formation of the η phase. •Fe impurities change the nature of binder producing an abnormal grain growth.•Pure Cr additions generate a bimodal grain size distribution and formation of η-phase.•Pure Cr additions affect the crisyallite size and density influencing the hardness.