Characterization and comparison of grain boundary character distributions in cemented carbides with different binder phases

• Published in: Computational materials science 2014-10, Vol.93, p.144-150
• Main Authors: Yuan, Xiaokun, Wei, Chongbin, Zhang, Dongtao, Zhu, Jie, Gao, Xuexu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 90°/[10 −10] Grain boundary; Applied sciences; Binder phase; Binders; Boundaries; Carbides; Cemented carbide; Cemented carbides; Electron backscattered diffraction; Exact sciences and technology; Five parameter analysis; Grain boundaries; Grain boundary character distribution; Metals. Metallurgy; Other composite materials with one or more metallic components; Powder metallurgy. Composite materials; Production techniques; Samples; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods
• ISSN: 0927-0256; 1879-0801
• DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2014.06.022

[Display omitted] •The GBCD in cemented carbides are calculated by integration of EBSD and FPA method.•The GBCD with binder phase as variant is effectively connected to crack behavior.•The work improves the correlation between GBCD calculation and performance study. The electron backscattered diffraction measurement, coupled with a statistical and stereological approach namely five parameter analysis method, was used to investigate the character distributions of carbide/carbide grain boundaries in a WC-6wt%Co cemented carbide sample and a WC-6wt%Ni cemented carbide sample. The 90°/[10−10] boundary was found as the most frequently occurring carbide/carbide boundary type in both samples, however, the populations as well as spatial distributions of the 90°/[10−10] boundary varied with different binder phases. Moreover, traces of the 90°/[10−10] grain boundaries may have separate configurations or adjoin at triple junctions. The geometry features of 90°/[10−10] boundary traces indicate that the energy equilibrium of the referred carbide grains has significant potential on the crack propagation.