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The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co

A series of four ultrafine WC-Co alloys of varying cobalt contents has been sintered from powder produced through the spray conversion process. The materials have been characterised and subjected to slurry erosion and cavitation erosion. A further twelve WC-Co alloys of varying grain sizes and cobal...

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Main Author: Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta
Other Authors: Allen, Colin
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Centre for Materials Engineering 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta
author2 Allen, Colin
author_browse Allen, Colin
Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta
author_facet Allen, Colin
Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta
author_sort Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta
collection Thesis
description A series of four ultrafine WC-Co alloys of varying cobalt contents has been sintered from powder produced through the spray conversion process. The materials have been characterised and subjected to slurry erosion and cavitation erosion. A further twelve WC-Co alloys of varying grain sizes and cobalt contents have been produced through conventional processes and subjected to the same tests in order to provide data for comparison. The erosion resistance of all the grades tested was found to increase with decreasing grain size, both under cavitation erosion and slurry erosion conditions. Furthermore, a transition from a localised material removal mechanism to a bulk material removal mechanism was observed in both erosive systems as the WC grain size of the material decreased below about lμm. The erosion resistance of sub-micron materials was found to be considerably more sensitive to bulk deformation parameters than that of coarser materials. As a result, ultrafine grades subjected to slurry erosion or cavitation erosion were found to exhibit lifetimes up to seven times greater than those of the best-performing materials with grain sizes above 1 μm. This increase in erosion resistance was achieved without any significant drop in fracture toupness. Significant differences were observed between the response of WC-Co to the two erosive systems, particularly in those materials exhibiting a localised erosion response. Under slurry erosion conditions, these materials displayed increasing erosion resistance with decreasing cobalt content, and both the cobalt and WC phases responded to erosive attack. Under cavitation erosion conditions, however, the opposite trend was observed, and only the cobalt phase responded to erosive attack. Materials exhibiting a bulk erosion response responded in a similar fashion to both forms of erosive attack, although cavitation erosion produced damage to a greater depth. The effect of defects on material performance was found to depend critically on the erosive system.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:52:21.576Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Centre for Materials Engineering
publisherStr Centre for Materials Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19805 The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta Allen, Colin Materials Engineering A series of four ultrafine WC-Co alloys of varying cobalt contents has been sintered from powder produced through the spray conversion process. The materials have been characterised and subjected to slurry erosion and cavitation erosion. A further twelve WC-Co alloys of varying grain sizes and cobalt contents have been produced through conventional processes and subjected to the same tests in order to provide data for comparison. The erosion resistance of all the grades tested was found to increase with decreasing grain size, both under cavitation erosion and slurry erosion conditions. Furthermore, a transition from a localised material removal mechanism to a bulk material removal mechanism was observed in both erosive systems as the WC grain size of the material decreased below about lμm. The erosion resistance of sub-micron materials was found to be considerably more sensitive to bulk deformation parameters than that of coarser materials. As a result, ultrafine grades subjected to slurry erosion or cavitation erosion were found to exhibit lifetimes up to seven times greater than those of the best-performing materials with grain sizes above 1 μm. This increase in erosion resistance was achieved without any significant drop in fracture toupness. Significant differences were observed between the response of WC-Co to the two erosive systems, particularly in those materials exhibiting a localised erosion response. Under slurry erosion conditions, these materials displayed increasing erosion resistance with decreasing cobalt content, and both the cobalt and WC phases responded to erosive attack. Under cavitation erosion conditions, however, the opposite trend was observed, and only the cobalt phase responded to erosive attack. Materials exhibiting a bulk erosion response responded in a similar fashion to both forms of erosive attack, although cavitation erosion produced damage to a greater depth. The effect of defects on material performance was found to depend critically on the erosive system. 2016-05-24T09:08:28Z 2016-05-24T09:08:28Z 1999 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19805 eng application/pdf Centre for Materials Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Materials Engineering
Pugsley, Victoria Antonietta
The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co
title_full The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co
title_fullStr The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co
title_full_unstemmed The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co
title_short The erosion of ultrafine WC-Co
title_sort erosion of ultrafine wc co
topic Materials Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19805
work_keys_str_mv AT pugsleyvictoriaantonietta theerosionofultrafinewcco
AT pugsleyvictoriaantonietta erosionofultrafinewcco