Nanostructured Ni-bonded hard materials (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5–Ni prepared by mechanical alloying and hot-pressing

In this paper, a novel nanostructured Ni bonded hard alloys (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5–Ni with different nickel contents were prepared by mechanical alloying and hot-pressing sintering. Nanocrystalline (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5 powders with “rounded” particle shape were prepared by mechanical alloying. The novel materials were easy to process nanoscale sintering and remain the rounded particles in the bulk materials. The relative density of the bulk samples can reach over 98% under the hot-pressing sintering. The sintered samples have superior mechanical properties. The effect of Ni content and on the mechanical properties of bulk sintered (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5–Ni were investigated. The mechanical properties of nanostructured and conventional (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5–Ni cemented carbides compared with (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5–Co were also investigated. The particles size of the starting material (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5 appears to play an important role in determining the mechanical properties of the obtained bulk alloys. As the (W0.6Al0.4)C0.5 grains refined, the use of Ni instead of Co does not suffer from any reduction in mechanical properties.