Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Effect of chromium doping on the grain boundary character of WC-Co

Emmanuel, Max ; Li, Zhuoqi Lucas ; Heptinstall, Harry ; Gavalda-Diaz, Oriol ; M'saoubi, Rachid LU ; Persson, Tomas ; Norgren, Susanne LU ; Britton, Thomas Benjamin ; Giuliani, Finn and Marquardt, Katharina (2025) In International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 126.
Abstract

The life of cutting tool inserts is critically important for efficient machining, reducing manufacturing cost, embedded energy, and enabling more complex parts to be machined. For these applications, cemented carbide (WC-Co) materials are a prime candidate. The performance of these materials can be limited by early fracture, typically via an intergranular fracture path with respect to carbide grains. This motivates further studies to understand the character of the grain boundary network so that grain boundary engineering (GBE) of WC-Co tools can be used to improve tool life and performance. In this work, we have used Rohrer et al.'s five-parameter grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) analysis to examine the grain boundary... (More)

The life of cutting tool inserts is critically important for efficient machining, reducing manufacturing cost, embedded energy, and enabling more complex parts to be machined. For these applications, cemented carbide (WC-Co) materials are a prime candidate. The performance of these materials can be limited by early fracture, typically via an intergranular fracture path with respect to carbide grains. This motivates further studies to understand the character of the grain boundary network so that grain boundary engineering (GBE) of WC-Co tools can be used to improve tool life and performance. In this work, we have used Rohrer et al.'s five-parameter grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) analysis to examine the grain boundary network of WC-10wt%Co and WC-10wt%Co-1wt%Cr samples (Rohrer et al., 2004a [1]). It was found that the measured area fraction of the Σ2 boundaries was comparable to the values reported in the literature despite the relatively larger grain sizes (∼14 μm) and higher cobalt contents. The result suggests that chromium doping increases the area fraction of Σ2 boundaries from 12.8 % to 14.8 %. It is proposed that this is a consequence of altering the Σ2 boundary energy, as associated with adding chromium.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cemented carbide, Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), Grain boundary character distribution, Hard metal
in
International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials
volume
126
article number
106954
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85208567125
ISSN
0263-4368
DOI
10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106954
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bf20e3b7-cf8f-4620-bc74-08716b8db351
date added to LUP
2025-02-20 13:02:43
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:22:54
@article{bf20e3b7-cf8f-4620-bc74-08716b8db351,
  abstract     = {{<p>The life of cutting tool inserts is critically important for efficient machining, reducing manufacturing cost, embedded energy, and enabling more complex parts to be machined. For these applications, cemented carbide (WC-Co) materials are a prime candidate. The performance of these materials can be limited by early fracture, typically via an intergranular fracture path with respect to carbide grains. This motivates further studies to understand the character of the grain boundary network so that grain boundary engineering (GBE) of WC-Co tools can be used to improve tool life and performance. In this work, we have used Rohrer et al.'s five-parameter grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) analysis to examine the grain boundary network of WC-10wt%Co and WC-10wt%Co-1wt%Cr samples (Rohrer et al., 2004a [1]). It was found that the measured area fraction of the Σ2 boundaries was comparable to the values reported in the literature despite the relatively larger grain sizes (∼14 μm) and higher cobalt contents. The result suggests that chromium doping increases the area fraction of Σ2 boundaries from 12.8 % to 14.8 %. It is proposed that this is a consequence of altering the Σ2 boundary energy, as associated with adding chromium.</p>}},
  author       = {{Emmanuel, Max and Li, Zhuoqi Lucas and Heptinstall, Harry and Gavalda-Diaz, Oriol and M'saoubi, Rachid and Persson, Tomas and Norgren, Susanne and Britton, Thomas Benjamin and Giuliani, Finn and Marquardt, Katharina}},
  issn         = {{0263-4368}},
  keywords     = {{Cemented carbide; Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD); Grain boundary character distribution; Hard metal}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials}},
  title        = {{Effect of chromium doping on the grain boundary character of WC-Co}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106954}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106954}},
  volume       = {{126}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}