Mechanical property and wear performance dependence on processing condition for cold-sprayed WC-(nanoWC-Co)

•Co phase transformation occurs during cold spray due to high strain rate deformation.•Higher nano-WC content improves both hardness and toughness of WC-(nanoWC-Co).•Simultaneous strengthening and toughening significantly improves wear resistance.•Annealing as-sprayed WC-(nanoWC-Co) enhances wear performance by further toughening. WC-(nanoWC-Co) with micro-WC reinforcing particles in nanoWC-Co cermet matrix was cold-sprayed by using WC-Co with bimodal sized WC particles (with both micro-sized WC particles and nano-sized WC particles). The effect of spray powder property and post-spray treatment on the mechanical properties and wear performance of cold-sprayed WC-(nanoWC-Co) coating were examined in comparison to the conventional high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF)-sprayed WC-Co coating. Results showed that both hardness and toughness were influenced by the spray powder properties and the post-spray heat treatment. Compared to the HVOF-sprayed WC-Co coating with micro-sized WC particles, WC-(nanoWC-Co) exhibited much higher hardness and toughness and thereby much higher wear resistance. The further toughening of WC-(nanoWC-Co) by post-spray heat treatment significantly doubled the wear performance. The excellent wear resistance of WC-(nanoWC-Co) is attributed to the simultaneous strengthening and toughening effects resulting from the microstructure design of bimodal WC particle size distribution composed of both micro-sized and nano-sized WC particles.