A new labyrinth factor for modelling the effect of binder volume fraction on gradient sintering of cemented carbides Original Research Article

To increase the cutting performance of WC–MC–Co cemented carbide tools, it is common to use a high temperature CVD process to coat them with thin wear resistant layers. During the process cracks are unavoidably introduced in the coating. To prevent crack propagation it is of interest to create a tough surface zone in the substrate, enriched in WC and binder phase. A way to create such a zone is to sinter a nitrogen-containing cemented carbide in a nitrogen free atmosphere. This formation of gradient structures has been extensively studied using microscopy and simulations, and it has been shown that the process is driven by diffusion in the binder phase. However, the diffusion paths are partly blocked by the dispersed particles. This effect can be formally handled by considering effective diffusivities by introducing a so-called labyrinth factor, λ. In prior work it has been assumed that λ=f2, where f is the volume fraction of the binder. The validity of this assumption has been studied by simulations and experimental analysis of gradient sintered WC–Ti(C,N)–Co cemented carbides containing 5.0, 6.7, 10.0 and 20.0 vol% binder phase. It was found that by using the labyrinth factor λ=f instead of λ=f2, a better correspondence between experiments and simulations can be achieved.