Abstract:
Al
2O
3/WC-10Co/ZrO
2 cermets were prepared by a hot-pressing process by using WC 10Co nanocomposite powder, Y
2O
3 stabilized nanocrystalline ZrO
2 powder and submicron Al
2O
3 powder. The influences of sintering temperature on the microstructure, grain size and properties were investigated according to the density, fracture toughness, Rockwell A hardness (HRA), hysteresis loops and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of fractured surfaces of the specimens. The results show that the composite powders (WC-10Co (50%)/Al
2O
3(40%)/ZrO
2(10%)) after being high-energy ball-milled for 48 h was hot-pressing sintered at 1450℃ then submicron Al
2O
3/WC-10Co/ZrO
2 cermets with an average grain size of less than 1
μm and better properties of 97.5% in relative density, 7. 446 8 Ma·m
1/2 in fracture toughness, HRA 94.0 is achieved.