Binderless carbides for tribological applications

Abstract: A corrosion resistant material contains essentially WC, and 0.1 to 10 weight-%, preferably 0,5 to 5 weight-%, of one or more of the metallic carbides TiC, VC, NbC, TaC, Cr 3 C 2 , ZrC or combinations thereof or with WC, and either spherical graphite and/or spherical hexagonal BN up to 10 volume-% with a size of about 3 µm or 1-5 weight-% of one or more of VN, Ti(C,N), CrN, ZrN. In applications with sliding surfaces, it has been found that the material has surprising results regarding low friction characteristics.

Description: The present invention relates to binderless sintered carbides with improved tribological properties. Cemented carbide, e.g., WC-Co, WC-TiC-Co, WC-TaC-Co, WC-TiC-TaC-Co, finds many applications in the field of wear parts. This is linked to their outstanding properties, viz. a high hardness and a high toughness resulting in a high wear resistance, a low coefficient of friction and a rather high thermal conductivity. However, in applications where these materials are brought into contact with corrosive media - particularly aqueous media - the metallic binder is corroded resulting in a progressive wear by superficial crumbling. Even by using a more corrosion resistant binder - such as Ni, Ni-Mo, Ni-Cr, Ni-Mo-Cr - as a substitute for cobalt, corrosion can only be avoided to a specific pH level. One possible solution is to use a cemented carbide without binder phase, often referred to as binderless carbides. Tungsten carbide (WC) can be sintered without any metallic binder at 1900-2000°C. However, as a consequence of using such high sintering temperatures, grain growth occurs leading to a decrease of both hardness and toughness. Binderless cemented carbide generally contains <1 weight-% Co as an impurity from the milling operation. JP-A-57-13142, JP-A-57-19353 and JP-A-57-19354 disclose corrosion resistant cemented carbide containing, in addition to WC, 2-5 weight-% TiC and/or TaC and 1-3 weight-% TiN. Fig. 1 shows a micrograph of a binderless material according to the invention containing spherical graphite. Fig. 2 shows the etched microstructure of the material in Fig. 1. According to the presently claimed invention, it has been found that additions of 0.1 to 10 weight-%, preferably 0,5 to 5 weight-%, to WC of one or more of the metallic carbides TiC, VC, NbC, TaC, Cr 3 C 2 , ZrC or combinations thereof or with WC, and 2-10 volume-% of spherical graphite and/or (b) spherical hexagonal BN, both having a grain size of about 3 µm give a binderless carbide with improved properties. Alternatively, in applications with sliding surfaces, it has been found that additions in amounts of 1-5 weight-% of one or more of VN, Ti(C,N), CrN or ZrN give surprising results regarding low friction characteristics. The WC grain size shall be chosen with regard to the wear application. In seal rings the value PV is used as a factor to characterize the effect of the forces acting in the seal surface: P means the normal pressure and V the sliding velocity. In applications with PV-values <10-15 MPa·m/s, the material shall have a WC grain size of 0.1 to 2 µm, preferably 0.3 to 1.5 µm. In applications with PV-values about 100 MPa·m/s or more, the WC grain size shall be 2-10 µm, preferably 3-8 µm. An embodiment with the composition of about 3 weight-% TiC, about 2 weight-% TaC, about 0.3 weight-% NbC with about 5 volume-% spherical graphite and rest WC has given particularly good results in corrosive media with pH-value of 2 or less. The materials according to the invention are manufactured by the techniques of powder metallurgy. The tungsten carbide powder (WC) has a mean Fisher grain size between 0.1 to 20 µm depending on chosen wear characteristics in the application. The metallic carbide powders and the metallic nitride and/or the carbonitride powders have a mean Fisher grain size between 0.8 and 5 µm, preferably 1 and 4 µm. The mixing of the constituents is made by milling in a mill (ball mill or attritor mill) equipped with cemented carbide balls, under ethanol or acetone, with an addition of 2 weight-% PEG {polyethyleneglycol). The powder is granulated by spray-drying in a hot nitrogen stream of the slurry recovered from the milling operation. The granulated powder is compacted to the desired shape by pressing at pressures between 80 and 200 MPa. Sintering is made at a temperature between 1450 and 1700 °C, preferably 1450 and 1550 °C, under vacuum or under argon and then followed by HIP or sinter-HIP treatment at a temperature between 1300 and 1450 °C. In the case of B-doped cobalt, the sintering is made at a temperature between 1200 and 1250 °C. The material according to the presently claimed invention is: highly resistant to corrosion, particularly aqueous corrosion, due to the absence of binder phase; and self lubricating since containing constituents of selected nitrides carbonitrides or spherical graphite and/or spherical BN as defined in sections (a) and (b) in claim 1. These constituents give tribofilms which are necessary in both wet and dry tribological applications. Example 1 A material with the composition WC-TiC 3-TaC 2-NbC 0.3 weight-% with about 5 volume-% of spherical graphite was prepared using raw materials with the following characteristics: WC TiC TaC NbC Mean Fisher grain size (µm) 1.2 3.6 2.2 2.0 Total carbon (wt-%) 6.19 19.70 6.66 11.4 Free carbon (wt-%) 0.10 0.27 0.06 0.05 The spherical graphite that was added had a Fisher grain size of 3 µm. The mixing was made by milling in an attritor mill, using cemented carbide balls, for 14 hours, under ethanol, adding 2 weight-% of PEG. The slurry obtained at the end of the milling step was spray-dried (NIRO atomizer) in a hot nitrogen stream. The granulated powder thus resulting had a granule size distribution between 20 and 200 µm. The sintering was made at 1480 °C, for 1 hour, under a partial pressure of 13 kPa argon and then followed by a sinterHIP treatment at the same temperature and for the same time, but under 6 MPa argon. The material had the following characteristics: Porosity : < A02, C08 in spherical form. Hardness : HV30=1870 No trace of corrosion was observed after 240 hours of immersion in aqueous hydrochloric acid, 0.5 N, and in aqueous nitric acid, 0.8 N, at 60 °C. Example 2 The material of Example 1 was tested with regard to tribological characteristics. The test was performed by means of a pin-on-disc test rig which is constructed in the following way. A shaft presses a flat grounded pin at an angle of 90° against the rotating ring. The load is applied by a dead weight, 30 N, and is constant during the test. The friction force is measured and recorded continuously by force transducers. Test system: Flat grounded pin: R a =0.08 Rotating ring: R a =0.07 Sliding velocity: 1 m/s Sliding distance: 2000 m PV: 100 MPa·m/s Both the pin and the ring were manufactured in the same material as described in Example 1. As a reference, a commercially available corrosion resistant material was chosen, SANDVIK C9M. Test Results: Pin Ring Wear Dynamic friction 0 min 10 min 20 min C9M C9M 60 mg 0.8 0.9 0.9 Inv. Inv. 35 mg 0.1 0.3 0.6 Remark: A temporarily high friction stopped the ring rotation for the conventional cemented carbide, SANDVIK C9M. Example 3 A material with the composition WC - Cr 3 C 2 0.75 - CrN 3 weight-% was prepared using raw materials with the following characteristics : WC Cr 3 C 2 CrN Mean Fisher grain size (µm) 0.7 2.7 1.2 Total carbon (wt-%) 6.12 13.45 Free carbon (wt-%) 0.05 0.10 The mixing, spray-drying, compression of the test pieces and sintering + sinter-HIP treatment were made as in Example 1. Porosity : A04 Hardness : HV30=2100 No trace of corrosion was observed after 240 hours of immersion in aqueous hydrochloric acid, 0.5 N, and in aqueous nitric acid, 0.8 N, at 60 °C. Example 4 The material of Example 3 was tested with regard to tribological characteristics. The test was performed in the same way as Example 3. Test system: Flat grounded pin: R a =0.10 Rotating ring: R a =0.08 Sliding velocity: 1 m/s Sliding distance: 2000 m PV: 100 MPa·m/s Both the pin and the ring were manufactured in the same material as described in Example 3. As a reference, a commercially available corrosion resistant material was chosen, SANDVIK C9M. Test Results: pin Ring Wear Dynamic friction 0 min 10 min 20 min C9M C9M 60 mg 0.8 0.9 0.9 Inv. Inv. 10 mg 0.8 0.3 0.35 Remark: A temporarily high friction stopped the ring rotation for the conventional cemented carbide. Example 5 A material with the composition WC - ZrC 4.0- Ti(C,N) 4.0 weight-% was prepared using raw materials with the following characteristics: WC ZrC Ti(C,N) Mean Fisher grain size (µm) 0.7 1.7 1.5 The mixing, spray-drying, compression of test pieces and sintering + sinter-HIPping were made as in Example 1. Porosity : A04 Example 6 The material of Example 5 was tested with regard to tribological characteristics. The test was performed in the same way as Example 3. Test system: Flat grounded pin: R a =0.10 Rotating ring: R a =0.08 Sliding velocity: 1 m/s Sliding distance: 2000 m PV: 100 MPa·m/s Both the pin and the ring were manufactured in the same material as described in Example 4. As a reference, a commercially available corrosion resistant material was chosen, SANDVIK C9M. Test Results: pin Ring Wear Dynamic friction 0 min 10 min 20 min C9M C9M 60 mg 0.8 0.9 0.9 Inv. Inv. 20 mg 0.2 0.4 0.45 Remark: A temporarily high friction stopped the ring rotation for the conventional cemented carbide, SANDVIK C9M.

Claims: A corrosion resistant sintered material consisting essentially of WC, characterised in that it contains 0.1 to 10 weight-%, preferably 0,5 to 5 weight-% of one or more of the metallic carbides TiC, VC, NbC, TaC, Cr 3 C 2 , ZrC or combinations thereof or with WC, <1 % by weight of binder metal, the remainder being WC and either (a) 2 to 10 volume-% of spherical graphite and/or spherical hexagonal BN, both having a grain size of about 3 µm, or (b) 1-5 weight-% of one or more of VN, Ti(C,N), CrN and ZrN.

Inventors: EDERYD STEFAN, PASTOR HENRI, EDERYD, STEFAN, PASTOR, HENRI
Applicants: SANDVIK AB, SANDVIK AKTIEBOLAG
Application year: 1995
Main classification: C04B35
IPC codes: F16C33, C04B35