Solid state synthesis of tungsten carbide in an inert copper matrix

A copper–tungsten–carbon system was chosen to study the possibility of synthesis of tungsten carbide phases from elements in an inert matrix. Copper played the role of the inert matrix and the composition W 50C 50 was investigated. A planetary type mill with ball acceleration up to 600 m s −2 was used as an activator for mechanical treatment. Thermal annealing at 820–940°C was carried out in an argon atmosphere. The influence of the initial Cu–W–C mixture content and preliminary mechanical treatment time on the final product phase content and grain size was studied. High tungsten content is found to retard WC synthesis and W 2C is obtained as the dominating product. Low tungsten content leads to the enhancement of WC in the products. A decrease in product grain size down to the submicron level with an increase of preliminary mechanical treatment time is demonstrated for Cu 94W 3C 3 composition, as an example.