The effect of boron-doped cobalt additions on mechanical properties of a recycled WC-Co powder

Recycled tungsten carbide powder shows low sinterability properties at conventional sintering temperatures. To enhance mechanical properties, boron-doped cobalt powder is added during the ball milling step. Due to the formation of a eutectic between boron and cobalt, the sinterability of the powders is greatly improved, and the sintering temperature could be decreased by 100 °C compared to conventional processes.
The as-received recycled powder contains 7.5 wt.% cobalt. That powder has been milled with the addition of boron-doped cobalt powder. Three powders have thus been prepared: WC-7.5(Co-B), WC-10(Co-B), and WC-15(Co-B). The sintered parts have been characterized in terms of physical and mechanical properties, and grain size distributions. The boron-doped parts showed superior mechanical properties for a lower sintering temperature than boron-free samples.