On the thermal characterization of a HPHT sintered WC–15% wt Co hardmetal alloy

Hardmetal is usually processed by the conventional powder technology techniques: mix of WC + Co powders, compacting, and liquid phase sintering. A new method to process hardmetal parts is hereby described. Parts of WC–15% wt Co were processed by using high pressure high temperature sintering (HPHT). The pressure of 5 GPa, temperature of 1350 °C, and time of 2 min of sintering was used. Results are shown as a function of micro-structure, densification, and hardness measurements. The open photoacoustic cell technique (OPC) was carried out in order to measure the thermal diffusivity of the hardmetal. In addition, heat capacity was considered and the thermal conductivity calculated. Results matched with the values of the literature where other photoacoustic techniques have been employed.