| Abstract |
| In spite of the many attractive properties of (W,Ti)C, its low fracture toughness limits its wide application. To improve the fracture toughness generally a second phase is added to fabricate a nanostructured composite. In this regard, graphene was considered as the reinforcing agent of (W,Ti)C. (W,Ti)C-graphene composites that were sintered within 2 min using pulsed current activated heating under a pressure of 80 MPa. The rapid consolidation method allowed retention of the nano-scale microstructure by blocking the grain growth. The effect of graphene on the hardness and microstructure of the (W,Ti)C-graphene composite was studied using a Vickers hardness tester and FE-SEM. The grain size of (W,Ti)C was reduced remarkably by the addition of graphene. Furthermore, the hardness decreased and the fracture toughness improved with the addition of graphene.
(Received August 13, 2018; Accepted November 5, 2018) |
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| Key Words |
| sintering, mechanical properties, composite, nanomaterial |
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