Additive manufacturing of WC-Co hardmetals: a review

By Yankun Yang, Chaoqun Zhang, Dayong Wang, L. Nie, D. Wellmann, Yingtao Tian. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2020

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WC-Co hardmetals are widely used in wear-resistant parts, cutting tools, molds, and mining parts, owing to the combination of high hardness and high toughness. WC-Co hardmetal parts are usually produced by casting and powder metallurgy, which cannot manufacture parts with complex geometries and often require post-processing such as machining. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are able to fabricate parts with high geometric complexity and reduce post-processing. Therefore, additive manufacturing of WC-Co hardmetals has been widely studied in recent years. In this article, the current status of additive manufacturing of WC-Co hardmetals is reviewed. The advantages and disadvantages of different AM processes used for producing WC-Co parts, including selective laser melting (SLM), selective electron beam melting (SEBM), binder jet additive manufacturing (BJAM), 3D gel-printing (3DGP), and fused filament fabrication (FFF) are discussed. The studies on microstructures, defects, and mechanical properties of WC-Co parts manufactured by different AM processes are reviewed. Finally, the remaining challenges in additive manufacturing of WC-Co hardmetals are pointed out and suggestions on future research are discussed.

Subfields: Automotive Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0a1f3bdf531f6b8fe9898c53fb53a1547bcf3f5b

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