High pressure isostatic densification process

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for densifying powder metallurgical parts to 100% theoretical density. The method comprises applying a high pressure of 0.1 - 100 MPa during sintering in a high pressure furnace at a temperature immediately before which the liquid phase is formed and maintaining this pressure during the rest of the sintering cycle until the furnace has cooled to almost room temperature. The method achieves rapid, complete closure of the porosity which results in parts with close dimensional tolerances and practically no warpage.

Description: The present invention relates to a sintering process for liquid phase sintering of powder metallurgical cemented carbide parts to close tolerances without warpage. US Patent No 4,431,605 describes a method for densifying previously sintered parts of powdered metals etc. The parts may be either vacuum or hydrogen sintered and, similarly, may be cooled. The parts are then reheated and the sintering vessel is pressurised to densify the parts. AT 314212 discloses a method of sintering powder metallurgical parts according to which high pressure is applied after the eutectic temperature of the binder phase has been reached. Complete densification is possible also without previous sintering. This process is advantageous with respect to dimensional tolerances and warpage of the sintered parts and it also necessitates much less time than the conventional two-step process. When sintering powder metallurgical parts the liquid phase as soon as it is formed during the first heating wets the solid particles rapidly and forms isolated pores within the structure which then is characterised by closed porosity. It has been found that a certain shrinkage occurs already during this heating. However, the remaining porosity and flaws still make the mechanical properties after cooling inferior compared to fully dense materials. In normal low-pressure sintering the final densification needs long time for complete pore elimination, which occurs through vacancy diffusion and annihilation. The invention is defined in claim 1 and preferred embodiments are shown in claims 2-4. The present invention comprises a method in which porous powder metallurgical cemented carbide compacts, are placed inside a pressurizable vessel with a heating device. The said compacts are heated in vacuum, inert gas or reducing protective atmosphere at approximately atmospheric or less pressure. It has now been found that a high pressure of the order of 0.1 to 100 MPa, preferably 0.3 - 30 MPa, strongly accelerates this pore closure in a powder metallurgical part if the pressure is applied at a temperature which is lower, 2-50 preferably 5-30 most preferably 10-20°C, than that at which the liquid eutectic phase is formed, T liq . This temperature varies depending upon the material. Typically said temperature is in the range of 1200 - 1600°C. A higher pressure has to used if the material to be sintered has a low content of liquid phase <10 mol-% or fine grain size <1 µm. The pressure is maintained during the rest of the sintering cycle until the furnace has cooled to almost room temperature or at least 800°C. Alternatively, a pressure cycle with increasing or decreasing pressure may be used. The invention applies to powder metallurgical parts comprising at least one hard constituent comprising a carbide, nitride and/or carbonitride of at least one metal of groups IVB, VB and/or VIB of the periodical system and a binder metal based on Co, Ni and/or Fe. The explanation to the rapid pore closure is that the solid grains are forced by the external pressure to move into the most energetically favourable positions and this movement is strongly assisted by the low-viscosity binder phase. At the same time the dissolution of carbide phase is facilitated, thus forming still more binder phase which makes the final densification extremely rapid. It has also been found that the binder phase exhibits a typical pseudoplastic behaviour in the temperature range in question. Another effect that has been found for the cemented carbide, that carburizing or decarburization reactions, which normally occur during conventional sintering of cemented carbides, almost vanish. This effect is especially evident when higher pressure is applied, i.e. over 1 MPa and an inert gas such as argon is used as a pressurizing medium. As carburizing or decarburizing reactions generally are most pronounced between the parts and their support and these reactions influence on the specific volume of the sintered parts they will cause severe warpage and loose tolerances. Application of inert gases at high pressure suppresses obviously such reactions, which together with the. short sintering time results in practically no warpage and a safe production to very close tolerances. It is extremely important that the pressurizing is made at the right temperature, i.e. before the temperature has been reached at which the liquid binder phase is formed. As this temperature is defined as the eutectic temperature at equilibrium the pressurizing has to be made below this temperature. The eutectic temperature varies according to the composition and deviation from stoichiometric composition of atungsten carbide-cobalt alloy. It is also known that this temperature is lower when the carbon content is high in the alloy than if it is low. In a cemented carbide alloy consisting of only tungsten carbide and cobalt the stoichiometric carbon content can be calculated from the formula: Carbon content(wt%) = 6.13(100-%Co)/100 In practice there is often a carbon excess or deficiency with respect to the stoichiometric content according to the formula above. This difference may be called Δ C and may be several tenths of a percent, positive or negative, and is often used intentionally already in the powder composition as a means for correction of the final sintered product to obtain specific properties. According to the present invention the starting temperature for pressurizing the sintering vessel must be in a temperature range of T liq -50 to T liq -2, preferably T liq -30 to T liq -5 most preferably T liq -20 to T liq -10°C. T liq can be determined experimentally e.g. by differential thermal analysis (DTA). For straight tungsten carbide - cobalt alloys T liq can be calculated from the formula T liq =(1314-456ΔC)(wt%Co) (0.0015+0.0938ΔC) If the alloy also contains other carbides such as of the fourth and fifth group of the transition elements in the periodic table of the elements, e.g titanium carbide, niobium carbide and/or tantalum carbide a corresponding correction of T liq has to be made. Generally, such correction terms are positive. Other elements e.g. iron and nickel form carbides of comparatively low stability and are generally alloyed in the binder phase. It is often found that T liq is lowered by such additions and the correction is thus negative. To obtain a homogeneous temperature throughout the powder metallurgical parts to be sintered it has been found beneficial to stop the temperature rise of the furnace as soon as the intended temperature for pressurizing has been reached in the surface of the compacts, but before pressurizing. The dwell time depends i.a. of the thinnest dimension of the compact, e.g. the thickness of a plate-shaped insert or the diameter of a long rod or the wall thickness of a tube or equivalent. If this dimension is called d (millimetres) the dwell time t (minutes) can be calculated from the formula t = 15 d ½ The method according to the invention can also be used to deliberately change the carbon content of cemented carbide pieces using the improved transport capability of carbon reactive gases. For example, it may be necessary to correct the carbon balance obtained from initially used raw materials. Furthermore, the process can also be intentionally used to obtain requirements on mechanical or other physical properties of the sintered cemented carbide within narrow limits. If such corrections are necessary carbon active gases such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ammonia or water vapour may be used instead of inert gases or partly substituted for the inert gas. Analogously, similar effects can be obtained in nitrogen containing materials such as titanium carbonitride based alloys by using nitrogen or nitrogen containing gas mixtures or gaseous compounds as a reactive pressurizing medium. This is especially important as many nitrides tend to disproportionate at high temperatures and thereby lose their valuable high temperature properties. Similar positive effects can be expected for all powder metallurgical materials that sinter in the presence of liquid phase such as Sialons and other silicon nitride based materials, silicon carbide produced with liquid silicon as sintering aid, ceramics with a metallic binder phase, heavy alloys, diamond-containing composites etc. The method according to the invention can also be used for the successful production of high speed steel according to powder metallurgy methods. The wear resistance of such materials can also be appreciably improved by mixing the high speed steel powder with wear resistant particles of e.g. nitrides such as titanium nitride or cubic boron nitride. Example 1 Inserts of different styles, types VBMM, CNMM and TNMG, were made from cemented carbide powders of two grades by uniaxial compaction to 55 % relative density. The grades were: Composition, weight-% Co TiC (Ta,Nb)C WC Grade I 5.5 2.6 6.0 Balance Grade II 10.2 1.9 3.9 Balance Sintering experiments were performed in a high-pressure furnace according to the invention and in a similar furnace for conventional low pressure sintering. The dewaxing and presintering procedures were made according to the same temperature and other process conditions. At 1290°C the high pressure furnace was pressurized with argon to 1.75 MPa overpressure and then the heating was continued to 1450 °C. After 30 minutes dwell time at this temperature the furnace was cooled down and then depressurized. In the conventional sintering furnace argon was purged at 1350 °C to only 4 kPa absolute pressure. The heating was then continued to 1450 °C. Dwell time and cooling were made in analogy to the high pressure sintering furnace. The sintered inserts were polished for metallographic examination and inspected for porosity according to ISO 4505. For both grades it was found that the high pressure sintered inserts according to the invention were absolutely porefree corresponding to A00 according to ISO 4505. On the other hand the conventionally sintered inserts showed a porosity of A02, A04 or even worse in some instances for both grades. Example 2 Test pieces for transverse rupture strength (TRS) determination were pressed to 55 % relative density from powder of the two grades of Example 1. The test pieces were divided into two groups. One group was high pressure sintered according to the invention and the other group was conventionally sintered according to the conditions of Example 1. Testing of the transverse rupture strength was made according to ISO 3327. The following results were found: Grade TRS, N/mm² Sintering according to the invention I 2380 II 3265 Conventional sintering I 1780 II 2750 The comparison shows that the improvement in transverse rupture strength is 34 % for grade I and 19 % for grade II when sintering according to the invention. Example 3 Test pieces for transverse rupture strength (TRS) determination were pressed to 55 % relative density from powder of WC-6%Co with a carbon content of 5.61 weight-%. The test pieces were divided into two groups. One group was high pressure sintered according to the invention and the other group was conventionally sintered according to the conditions of Example 1. Density, porosity, K IC and hardness (HV10) were determined. The following results were found: Density g/cm³ Porosity K IC MPa m ½ HV10 Sintering according to the invention 15.035 A00 17.19 1566 Conventional sintering 15.012 A06 14.62 1510 The comparison shows a considerable improvement in K IC of 18 % for the grade when sintering according to the invention.

Claims: Method of liquid phase sintering of powder metallurgical cemented carbide parts in a high pressure furnace at which said powder metallurgical parts consist of at least one hard constituent comprising a carbide, nitride and/or carbonitride of at least one metal of groups IVB, VB and/or VIB of the periodical system and a binder metal based on Co, Ni and/or Fe, wherin Ag, Cu and Al are excluded from the binder phase, characterized in that a pressure of 0.3 - 30 MPa is applied by a gaseous isostatic densification process at a temperature lower than that at which the formation of eutectic liquid phase occurs, T liq , and that said pressure is maintained during the rest of the sintering cycle until the furnace has cooled down to room temperature or at least to 800 °C. The method according to claim 1 characterized in that said pressure is applied at a temperature in the interval T liq -50 to T liq -2 °C. The method according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said powder metallurgical part consists of a straight tungsten carbide-cobalt grade and the temperature T liq (°C) is calculated from the formula T liq = (1314-456ΔC)·(wt%Co) (0.0015+0.0938ΔC) where ΔC is the difference between actual and stoichiometric carbon content of the grade in weight-%. The method according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that said powder metallurgical parts are kept at the temperature before pressurizing the furnace for a period of time t in minutes calculated from the formula t=15d ½ where d is the thinnest dimension of the part or equivalent in millimeters.

Inventors: DURING NICLAS, HAGLUND BENGT OLOF, DURING, NICLAS, HAGLUND, BENGT OLOF
Applicants: SANDVIK AB, SANDVIK AKTIEBOLAG
Application year: 1991
Main classification: B22F3
IPC codes: C22C1, B22F3