Method of making metal composite materials

Abstract: According to the method of the present invention one or more metal salts of at least one iron group metal containing organic groups are dissolved in at least one polar solvent and complex bound with at least one complex former comprising functional groups in the form of OH or NR 3 , (R=H or alkyl). In addition at least one insoluble, reducible salt of at least one iron group metal is suspended in the solution. Hard constituent powder and, optionally, a soluble carbon source are added to the solution. The solvent is evaporated and powder mass is heat treated in inert and/or reducing atmosphere. As a result a powder mixture is obtained which after addition of pressing agent can be compacted and sintered according to standard practice to a body containing hard constituents in a binder phase.

Description: The present invention relates to a method of producing metal composite materials such as cemented carbide. US 5,505,902 discloses a method in which one or more metal salts of at least one iron group metal containing organic groups are dissolved in at least one polar solvent such as ethanol, methanol, water and complex bound with at least one complex former comprising functional groups in the form of OH or NR 3 , (R=H or alkyl). Hard constituent powder and, optionally, a soluble carbon source are added to the solution. The solvent is evaporated and remaining powder is heat-treated in inert and/or reducing atmosphere. As a result hard constituent powder coated with at least one iron group metal is obtained which after addition of pressing agent can be compacted and sintered according to standard practice to a body containing hard constituents in a binder phase. A disadvantage with the mentioned method is that the solution generally contains rather low amount of iron group metal which leads to large volumes of solution and thus long evaporation times when coating hard constituent powders with high binder content. Therefore a hard constituent powder containing less than 5 % binder phase is generally made and to this powder is added binder metal powder to the desired composition. This requires an additional process step and rather careful mixing in order to obtain an even microstructure. It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the method disclosed in US 5,505,902. It has now surprisingly been found that if, in addition to soluble salts, an insoluble and reducible salt of the iron group metals is added to achieve the desired composition it is possible to obtain an even and homogeneous structure of the cemented carbide. The process according to the invention comprises the following steps where Me- Co, Ni or Fe. 1. At least one salt or compound of Me containing organic or inorganic groups is dissolved in at least one polar solvent such as ethanol, methanol, water, acetonitrile, dimetylformamide or dimetylsulfoxide and combinations of solvents such as methanol-ethanol and water-glycol, preferably methanol and/or water. Triethanolamine or other complex former especially molecules containing more than two functional groups, i. e. OH or NR 3 with (R = H or alkyl) 0.1-2.0 mole complex former/mole metal, preferably about 0.5 mole complex former/mole metal is added under stirring. 2. Into the solution is further suspended one or more insoluble and reducible organic or inorganic salts or compounds of Me, preferably hydroxide of Me. Preferably, the salts shall have a grain size <2 µm. 3. Optionally, sugar (C 12 H 22 O 11 ) or other soluble carbon source such as other types of carbohydrates and/or organic compounds which decompose under formation of carbon in the temperature interval 100-500°C in non-oxidizing atmosphere can be added (<2.0 mole C/mole metal, preferably about 0.5 mole C/mole metal), and the solution heated to 40°C in order to improve the solubility of the carbon source. The carbon is used to reduce the MeO formed in connection with heat treatment and to regulate the C-content in the powder. 4. WC powder and optionally other hard constituents powders, preferably well-deagglomerated, e.g. by jet milling, are added under moderate stirring and the temperature is increased to accelerate the evaporation of the solvent. When the mixture has become rather viscous, the dough-like mixture is kneaded and when almost dry smoothly crushed in order to facilitate the evaporation (avoiding inclusions of solvent). 5. The loosened powder lump obtained in the preceding step is heat treated in nitrogen and/or hydrogen at about 400-1100°C, preferably 400-800°C. To achieve a fully reduced powder a holding temperature might be needed. The time of heat treatment is influenced by process factors such as powder bed thickness, batch size, gas composition and heat treatment temperature and has to be determined by experiments well within the purview of the artisan. A holding time for reduction of a 5 kg powder batch in a pure hydrogen atmosphere at 500°C of 60-120 minutes has been found suitable. Nitrogen and/or hydrogen is normally used but Ar, NH 3 , CO and CO 2 (or mixtures thereof) can be used whereby the composition and microstructure of the powder can be modulated. 6. The heattreated powder is mixed with a pressing agent in ethanol to form a slurry either alone or with other hard constituent powders and/or binder phase metals and/or carbon to obtain the desired composition. The slurry then is dried, compacted and sintered in the usual way to obtain a sintered body of hard constituents in a binder phase. Most of the solvent can be recovered. Alternatively the pressing agent can be added together with the hard constituent powder according to paragraph 4, directly dried, pressed and sintered. The following examples are given to illustrate various aspects of the invention. Example 1 A WC-10%Co cemented carbide was made in the following way according to the invention: 84 g cobalt acetate tetrahydrate (Co(C 2 H 3 O 2 ) 2 ·4H 2 O) was dissolved in 1200 ml methanol (CH 3 OH). 126 g cobalt hydroxide (Co(OH) 2 ) was added to the solution. To this solution, 30 g triethanolamine ((C 2 H 5 O) 3 N) was added during stirring. After that, 900 g WC (d WC = 2.1 µm) was added and the temperature was increased to about 70°C. Careful stirring took place continuously during the time the methanol was evaporating until the mixture had become viscous. The dough-like mixture was worked and crushed with a light pressure when it had become almost dry. The powder obtained was fired in a furnace in a porous bed about 1 cm thick in nitrogen atmosphere in a closed vessel, heating rate 10°C/min to 500°C, completed with reduction in hydrogen for 90 minutes, finally followed by cooling in nitrogen atmosphere at 10°C/min. No cooling step between burning off and reduction step was used. The powder obtained was mixed with pressing agent in ethanol with adjustment of carbon content (carbon black), dried, compacted and sintered according standard practice for WC-Co alloys. A dense cemented carbide structure with porosity A00 and hardness HV3=1320 was obtained. Fig 1 shows the microstructure of the powder at 5000X before mixing. Example 2 A WC-10%Co cemented carbide was made in the same way as in Example 1 but with 1200 ml water as solvent instead of methanol (CH 3 OH). The same result as in Example 1 was obtained. Example 3 A WC-1.0%TaC-0.3%NbC-10%Co cemented carbide was made in the same way as in Example 1 except for an extra addition of 12.5 g (Ta,Nb)C (80/20). A dense cemented carbide structure with porosity A00 and hardness HV3=1350 was obtained. Example 4 A WC-1.0%TiC-10%Co cemented carbide was made in the same way as in Example 1 except for an extra addition of 20.0 g (W,Ti)C (50/50). A dense cemented carbide structure with porosity A00 and hardness HV3=1330 was obtained. Example 5 A WC-10%Ni cemented carbide was made in the same way as in Example 1 but with nickel acetate tetrahydrate (Ni(C 2 H 3 O 2 ) 2 ·4H 2 O) and nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH) 2 ) instead of cobalt acetate tetrahydrate (Co(C 2 H 3 O 2 ) 2 ·4H 2 O) and cobalt hydroxide (Co(OH) 2 ). A dense cemented carbide structure with porosity A00 and hardness HV3=1280 was obtained.

Claims: Method of making a hard constituent powder mixture containing at least one iron group metal comprising the following steps forming a solution by dissolving at least one salt of at least one iron group metal containing organic groups in at least one polar solvent and complex binding with at least one complex former comprising functional groups in the form of OH or NR 3 , (R=H or alkyl) adding hard constituent powder and, optionally, a soluble carbon source to the solution forming a powder mass by evaporating the solvent heat treating the powder mass in inert and/or reducing atmosphere to obtain a powder mixture characterised in suspending in the solution at least one insoluble, reducible salt of at least one iron group metal

Inventors: SVENSSON ROLF, WALDENSTROEM MATS, SVENSSON, ROLF, WALDENSTROEM, MATS, Waldenström, Mats
Applicants: SANDVIK AB, SANDVIK AKTIEBOLAG
Application year: 1998
Main classification: C22C1
IPC codes: B22F9, C22C1, C01B31, C04B35, B22F1, C22C29