High hardness, wear resistant materials

Abstract: A powdered admixture of a metal and its boron, carbon, nitrogen or silicon derivative is, when subjected to densification conditions, partially reacted and converted to a hard, wear resistant material. The material, when formed from an admixture of tungsten carbide and tungsten, contains tungsten monocarbide and (di-tungsten) carbide. Other choices of metal and metal derivatives produce at least one compound having a stoichiometry which differs from that of starting metal derivative. Articles formed from this material can be useful as, for example, nozzles in abrasive or nonabrasive waterjet cutting machines and various parts of wire drawing apparatus.

Description: This invention generally concerns a material containing: (a) at least one product of an incomplete reaction of a mixture of (1) a metal, (2) its carbon, nitrogen or silicon derivative and, optionally, (3) carbon, nitrogen or silicon; and (b) an amount of the metal derivative. This invention particularly concerns a material containing tungsten carbide (WC) and at least one product of an incomplete reaction between tungsten carbide and tungsten. This invention further concerns wear resistant articles formed from such materials. Journal of Material Science vol. 19, no. 4, April 1984, p1242-1250 relates to the reactive hot pressing of titanium-titanium carbide mixtures to form substoichiometric titanium carbide. US-A-4,292,081 relates to a sintered refractory and abrasive body composed of a combination of a metal diboride and a metal boride. One aspect of the present invention is a material having an average grain size of less than 10 micrometers, a high degree of hardness or wear resistance and comprising at least one product of an incomplete reaction between AX, A, and, optionally, an amount of X, said incomplete reaction product comprising an amount of unreacted AX and at least one compound AX', each compound AX' having a stoichiometry which differs from that of AX, wherein A is manganese, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, iron, chromium, molybdenum or tungsten and X is carbon, silicon or nitrogen. The reaction product may also comprise a residual amount of A if such is not completely consumed in forming the compound(s) AX'. The reaction product, when sufficiently densified, provides the desired hardness and wear resistance. A second aspect of the present invention is a method of preparing a material having an average grain size of less than 10 micrometers, and a high degree of hardness or wear resistance. The method comprises subjecting a powdered admixture of AX and A, and, optionally, an amount of X, to conditions of temperature and pressure sufficient to form at least one product of an incomplete reaction among components of the powdered admixture, said product being designated as AX' and having a stoichiometry which differs from that of AX, and produce a dense, consolidated material comprising an amount of unreacted AX and the product(s) AX', said product AX' having minimal grain growth when compared to AX, A is a metal selected from manganese, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, iron, chromium, molybdenum or tungsten and X is carbon, silicon or nitrogen, the temperature is low enough to substantially preclude degradation of AX, AX' and A. The temperature is two fifths to three fourths of the lesser of the melting point of AX, AX' and A. Temperatures in excess of three fourths of the lower melting point are believed to lead to excessive grain growth and drive the reaction toward completely reacting AX. These results are believed to be undesirable. The consolidated product suitably has a Vickers hardness of at least 1900 kg/mm 2 measured using a 1 kg load. The Vickers hardness is beneficially at least 2200 kg/mm 2 . The process may further comprise one or more preliminary steps such as forming the powdered admixture of AX and A, and converting the admixture into a shaped greenware article. The process may also comprise one or more finishing steps subsequent to densification. A third aspect of the present invention is an improved wear-resistant article formed from high hardness material of the first aspect. Examples of wear-resistant articles include nozzles, for example, waterjet cutting nozzles or mixing tubes, abrasive blast nozzles, water blast nozzles, spray dry nozzles, and paint spray nozzles. Other articles include orifices, for example, choke valves and flow meter parts; bushings; pump and valve parts; tiles, sleeves, chutes, tubes and other parts used in handling abrasive materials such as coal or mineral slurries; cutting tools, for example, indexable inserts, end mills, router bits, reamers, drills, saw blades, and knives used, where appropriate, for machining or cutting materials such as metals, plastics, wood products and composites; dies, capstans, rollers, guides, punches, and forming tools used for wire drawing, tube drawing, extrusion, molding, textile manufacturing and other operations requiring hardness or wear resistance; powder compacting dies; EDM current contacts and guides; sporting equipment; and precision parts for timepieces, computers, guns, and gyroscopes. This listing of articles is solely for purposes of illustration and is not intended to be all-inclusive. The present invention employs a material AX. A is a metal selected from manganese, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, iron, chromium, molybdenum or tungsten. X is an element selected from carbon, silicon or nitrogen. A is beneficially tungsten or hafnium, preferably tungsten. X is desirably carbon. As such, tungsten carbide is a preferred, commercially available material. The tungsten carbide has an average grain size of ten micrometers or less, beneficially five micrometers or less, desirably one micrometer or less and preferably from 0.4 to 0.8 micrometer. The grain size is desirably as fine as possible. Such a size is not, however, always commercially available. In that case, commercially available powders may be be used as is or, if possible, reduced in size by attrition or another suitable process prior to use. Acceptable grain sizes for other materials of the formula AX approximate those for tungsten carbide and are readily determined without undue experimentation. The present invention also employs an amount of A. A, defined hereinabove, is identical to the metal portion of AX. In other words, A is tungsten when AX is tungsten carbide. The amount is large enough to promote formation of AX', but small enough to leave at least a portion of the AX unreacted. The amount is suitably from 1 to 90 parts by weight per hundred parts of AX. When A is tungsten, the average grain size is 10 micrometers or less, preferably from 0.1 to 1 micrometer. Acceptable grain sizes for other choices of A are beneficially of the same order of magnitude as tungsten. Addition of one or more auxiliary or binding metals, such as cobalt or another iron group metal, while permissible provided they do not adversely affect physical properties of resultant compositions, is believed to be unnecessary. The inadvertent addition of trace amounts is largely unavoidable if milling or attritor media used to form powdered mixtures contain an amount of such metal. If present, an iron group metal may allow use of lower densification temperatures, for example, 1400°C or below. In the absence of an iron group metal one need only use higher temperatures to approach or attain complete densification. As used herein, the terms "incomplete reaction", "incomplete reaction product" and "product(s) of an incomplete reaction" all refer to the reaction among components of the powdered admixture therein at least a portion of AX does not react with A. In other words, that portion of AX is admixed with AX' and, optionally, a small amount of the source of A in products in the present invention. Densification conditions, i.e., temperature and pressure, are selected to minimize grain growth yet attain a desired degree of densification. The desirable conditions include a temperature that is less than three fourths of the lesser of the melting points of AX, AX' and A, but greater than a temperature at which no appreciable consolidation occurs. The pressure is usually sufficient to achieve a density of 95 percent of theoretical density or greater. The density is beneficially 97 percent or more, preferably more than 99 percent, of theoretical density. Another measure of adequate densification is porosity of the densified articles. The porosity is minimized to attain optimize hardness. The porosity is beneficially less than 5 volume percent, based upon total article volume. The porosity is desirably less than 3 volume percent and preferably less than 1 volume percent. "Theoretical density", as used herein, is a calculated value based upon weight fraction and density of the starting components. "High density", as used herein, refers to a density of at least 90 percent of theoretical density. "Substantially fully dense", as used herein, means either a density of 99 percent or more of theoretical density or a porosity of less than 1 volume percent. When A is tungsten and X is carbon, densification conditions are usually sufficient to produce a material having a Vickers hardness, measured using a 1 kg load, of at least 2200 kg/mm 2 . The Vickers hardness is desirably more than 2300 kg/mm 2 , preferably more than 2400 kg/mm 2 . Lower Vickers hardness values, for example, 1900 kg/mm 2 or less, are suitable for applications wherein the higher hardness values are not needed or desired. Other choices for A and X provide a variety of acceptable Vickers hardness values. The starting materials, AX, A and, optionally an amount of X, are in particulate or powder form before they are converted to an admixture. It is believed that small particles offer more advantages than large particles, at least in terms of hardness, wear and residual unreacted A. Small particles, as a general rule, also require less mixing time than large particles. Based upon factors such as availability, larger particle sizes may be used as received or, if necessary, subjected to size reduction operations before use. The powdered admixture may be prepared by any conventional mixing process so long as the process yields a generally uniform admixture. The process should not adversely affect physical properties of the resultant material, for example, by contamination. An attritor, which uses balls of hard material to promote mixing, provides particularly satisfactory results. Attritor mixing is accomplished with the aid of a liquid such as heptane. A binder, such as paraffin wax, can be added during the final stages of attrition to facilitate greenware formation subsequent to mixing. The attrited mixture is dried and screened, or classified, to remove unwanted agglomerates and fines before further processing. The attrited, dried and classified mixture may be converted to a preform using conventional technology See , for example, US-A-4,446,100 at column 1, line 5 through line 31; and Modern Ceramic Engineering, Chapter 6, pages 178-215 (1982). The resulting preform is prepared for densification by conventional procedures such as thermal or chemical debindering, pre-sintering, green machining and reisopressing. A protective coating can be applied to the resulting article to prevent reaction with the environment. In extreme cases, the article can be "canned", or placed in an impervious container, to permit handling without atmospheric contamination. The resulting article prepared for densification is referred to herein as "greenware". When A is tungsten and X is carbon,usually densification is conducted at a temperature of less than 2000°C. Temperatures in excess of 2000°C, for example, 2500°C, offer no appreciable advantages in terms of an increase in density. Such temperatures do, however, promote grain growth. Grain growth is believed to adversely affect hardness or other physical properties of the densified material. Temperatures that are too low to achieve adequate densification are unacceptable. As such, the densification temperature should be greater than two-fifths, preferably one-half, but not more than three fourths of the melting temperature of the lower melting component, AX, AX' or A. Actual densification temperatures are determined without undue experimentation. The greenware is subjected to pressure assisted densification using one of several conventional techniques. These techniques include hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and rapid omnidirectional compaction (ROC). The ROC technique, which employs mechanically induced pressure, for example, that generated by a forging press, is preferred. A desirable method of converting the greenware into a satisfactory densified article is described in US-A-4,744,943 at column 4, line 23 through column 6, line 15. When such a method is employed, the pressure, typically between 69.9 MPa and 3.45 X 10 3 MPa, is suitably applied for a period of time of less than one hour. The period of time is beneficially less than thirty minutes, desirably less than one minute and preferably less than 30 seconds, for example, 10-30 seconds. In order to facilitate recovery of resultant densified parts, the greenware is desirably wrapped in graphite foil or some other substantially inert material prior to being placed in a glass pocket fluid die or other densification medium. US-A-4,081,272, at column 1, line 62 through column 2, line 58, discloses a glass-encapsulated HIP process. US-A-3,622,313, at column 2, line 16 through line 75, discloses a HIP process. If the glass-encapsulated process is used, a desirable modification includes evacuating the glass capsule containing a part to be densified and eliminating the use of powdered glass. Application of pressure suitably occurs over a period of one hour or less at 1500°C to 2000°C. Densified articles, prepared as described herein, are complex, multi-phase, fine-grained composites containing, as principal components, at least one product AX' and an amount of AX. When A is tungsten and X is carbon, the composite will contain tungsten carbide, a known material of fixed stoichiometry, and (di-tungsten) carbide, another known material of fixed stoichiometry. If A is not fully converted to AX', the composite also contains an amount of A. The amount of A may vary from as little as a trace amount, for example, 0.01 percent by weight or less, to a much larger quantity depending upon a variety of interrelated variables. Such variables include starting material selection, adequacy of mixing, and densification parameters. Finally, if an attritor is used for mixing and the balls contained therein are formed at least partially from a material other than the starting materials, for example, cobalt, that material may be incorporated into the composite as, for example, part of an additional mixed carbide phase. Densified articles of the present invention usually exhibit an abrasion wear resistance of at least 500 cm -3 measured by the ASTM G-65-80 method. The abrasion wear resistance is desirably at least 550 cm -3 . The article beneficially exhibits an erosion wear rate of no more than 3x10 -3 mm 3 /g of abrasive measured at a 30 degree angle according to the ASTM G-76-83 method. The erosion wear rate is desirably no more than 2x10 -3 mm 3 /g of abrasive measured at a 90 degree angle according to the ASTM G-76-83 method. Although lower wear rates would clearly be desirable, measurement of such rates with currently available equipment is quite difficult, if not impossible. Hardness and wear resistance values vary with the materials represented by A and X. Wear resistance is proportional to hardness. As such, softer materials may provide an abrasion wear resistance below 500 cm -3 . The densified article has a fine-grained structure with an average grain size of less than ten micrometers. The grain size is beneficially less than five micrometers, desirably from 0.1 micrometer to one micrometer. The following examples and comparative experiments illustrate the present invention and should not be construed, by implication or otherwise, as limiting its scope. All parts and percentages are by weight and all temperatures are in degrees centigrade (°C) unless otherwise indicated. Example 1 A mixture of 88 percent tungsten carbide powder (average particle size of 0.8 micrometer) and 12 percent tungsten powder having an (average particle size of 1 micrometer) is used as a starting material. The tungsten is added to a heptane slurry of the tungsten carbide in a Union Process model O1HD research attritor containing 3.5 kilograms of tungsten carbide-cobalt balls and mixed for 4 hours. Three percent of paraffin wax is added as a binder during the last thirty minutes of attritor mixing. The resultant mixture is dried and screened through a 20 mesh (U.S. Standard Size Series Number 20 (850 µm)) screen. Greenware parts are made by cold-pressing the screened mixture in steel tooling at 5,000 pounds per square inch (psi) (35 MPa). The cold-pressed quarts are then cold isostatically pressed at 30,000 psi (210 MPa). The resultant parts are dewaxed under vacuum at 350°C, reduced under a hydrogen atmosphere at 450°C, and pre-sintered at 1400°C. The pre-sintered parts are wrapped in graphite foil, commercially available from Union Carbide under the trade designation Grafoil®, placed into a glass pocket fluid die, preheated to 1650°C and held at that temperature for 15 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere. The die is placed in a die shell previously preheated to a temperature of 1400°C over a period of 90 minutes to provide a die assembly. The die assembly is isostatically pressed at 120,000 psi (830 MPa) for 20 seconds. The pressing procedure is described in more detail in US-A-4,744,943 at column 4, line 23 through column 6, line 15; US-A-4,428,906 at column 3, line 19 through column 6, line 32; and US-A-4,656,002 at column 3, line 26 through column 4, line 32. The fluid die is cooled in air and the parts are recovered and sand blasted. Analytical work involves the use of metallography, light microscopy, analytical scanning electron microscopy (ASEM), electron probe analysis (EPA), analytical transmission electron microscopy (ATEM), and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Microstructures are observed under the SEM, ATEM, and light microscopes. Determination of the presence of a reaction phase makes use of XRD. Composition of the reaction phase is determined by EPA and ATEM. Volume fraction of phases is determined by stereology of BSE images, and grain counting in ATEM. Analysis of the composite indicates that it is a discrete, multi-phase composite including 70 percent by volume WC and 30 percent by volume (di-tungsten) carbide. The material is substantially granular with no discernible (at 300,000 X magnification) binder phase or continuous phase. Grain size distribution is determined using the intercept method described by Underwood in Quantitative Stereology , Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1970). The grain sizes typically fall within a range of 0.1 to 1 micrometer. The physical properties of the parts are summarized in Table I. Physical Properties of Articles Prepared in Ex. 1 Property Measured Value Method Density 15.84 (99.0% of Theoretical) g/cm 3 Water immersion ASTM B-311-58 Hardness 2364 kg/mm 2 Vickers-13.6 kg load Hardness 95.1 ASTM B-294-76 (Rockwell A) Palmqvist Toughness (W) 22.7 kg/mm Palmqvist indentation Wear Rate A. Abrasion 653 1/cm 3 ASTM G-65-80 B. Erosion 0.473 x 10 -3 mm 3 /g (30°) ASTM G-76-83 0.336 x 10 -3 mm 3 /g (90°) Porosity A02-A04 ASTM B-276-79 The data presented in Table I show that the composite exhibits outstanding hardness and wear resistance. Similar results are expected with other compositions of the present invention. Example 2 Example 1 is repeated except for increasing the glass pocket die preheat temperature from 1650°C to 1800°C. Physical properties of the resultant parts are shown in Table II Physical Property Data - Example 2 Property Measured Value Density 15.88 (99.3% of theoretical) Hardness 2472 Kg/mm 2 Palmqvist toughness 21.4 Kg/mm Hardness (Rockwell A) 95.6 Porosity A04-A06 The data shown in Table II demonstrate that an increase in consolidation temperature provides some increase in properties, particularly in terms of hardness and density. The high hardness value is believed to correspond to good wear properties. Similar results are expected with other compositions of the present invention. Example 3 Example 1 is repeated using a mixture containing 24 percent tungsten. Physical properties of the resultant parts are shown in Table III. Physical Property Data - Example 3 Property Measured Value Density 16.14 (98.5% of Theoretical) Hardness 2283 Kg/mm 2 Palmqvist toughness 19.6 Kg/mm Hardness (Rockwell A) 95.5 Porosity A02 The data displayed in Table III, when coupled with that of Example 1, suggest that excellent physical properties are available over a range of compositions. Similar results are expected with other compositions and process conditions, all of which are disclosed herein. Vickers Hot Hardness Testing The material of Example 1 is subjected to Vickers Hot Hardness testing in accordance with the procedure described by B. North in Engineering Applications of Brittle Materials , page 159 (1985). Results of the testing, with a one kilogram load and a 15 second indent time at various temperatures, are displayed in Table IV. Hot Hardness Temperature (°C) Vickers Hardness (kg/mm 2 ) 25 2641 100 2452 300 2417 500 2088 700 1693 900 1219 1100 766 1300 191 The data shown in Table IV indicate the suitability of compositions of the present invention for high temperature applications such as cutting tools for metals. Similar results are obtained with other materials and process conditions, all of which are disclosed herein. The materials of the present invention are, as noted hereinabove, useful in a wide variety of end use applications where wear resistance or hardness or both are needed. The materials are particularly useful in nozzles, such as sand blast nozzles and waterjet cutting nozzles, wear guides, bushings, powder compacting dies, valve parts, router bits, cutting tools, end mills, indexable inserts, and wire drawing die parts.

Claims: A dense, consolidated material having an average grain size of less than 10 micrometers, and a high degree of hardness or wear resistance and comprising at least one product of an incomplete reaction between AX, A, and, optionally, an amount of X, said incomplete reaction product comprising an amount of unreacted AX and at least one compound AX', each compound AX' having a stoichiometry which differs from that of AX, wherein A is selected from manganese, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, iron, chromium, molybdenum or tungsten and X is carbon, silicon or nitrogen. A material as claimed in Claim 1, wherein A is tungsten or hafnium. A material as claimed in Claim 2, wherein X is carbon. A material as claimed in Claim 2, wherein A is tungsten and X is carbon. A material as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a residual amount of A. A material as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, having a porosity of less than 1 volume percent. A material as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, having a grain size of 0.1 to 1 micrometer. A material as claimed in any one of the preceding claims having a Vickers hardness of at least 1900 kg/mm 2 measured using a 1 kg load, an abrasion wear resistance of at least 500 cm -3 measured by the ASTM G-65-80 method and a density of more than ninety percent of theoretical density. A material as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the Vickers hardness is at least 2200 kg/mm 2 and the abrasion resistance is at least 500 CM -3 . A method of preparing a material as claimed in any one of the preceding claims that comprises subjecting a powdered admixture of AX and A, and, optionally, an amount of X, to conditions of temperature and pressure sufficient to form said at least one product AX' and produce a dense, consolidated material comprising an amount of unreacted AX and the product(s) AX', wherein said product AX' having minimal grain growth when compared to AX, wherein the temperature is 2/5 to 3/4 of the lesser of the melting point of AX, AX' and A. A method as claimed in Claim 10, further comprising an intermediate step of converting the admixture into a shaped greenware article prior to densification. A method as claimed in either of Claims 10 and 11, wherein the admixture is heated to a temperature of less than 2000°C prior to densification. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein densification pressure is applied by rapid omnidirectional compaction. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein densification pressure is applied by hot isostatic pressing. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 14, wherein the grain size of AX is 0.4 to 0.8 micrometer and the grain size of A is 0.1 to 1 micrometer. A nozzle capable of use in waterjet cutting applications, characterised in that the nozzle is made from a material as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 9.

Inventors: GULAU MCCOMBS ANN M, TIMM EDWARD E, GULAU MCCOMBS, ANN M., TIMM, EDWARD E.
Applicants: DOW CHEMICAL CO, THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY
Application year: 1991
Main classification: C04B35
IPC codes: C22C29, C22C1, C04B35