Mechanical properties of binderless tungsten carbide by spark plasma sintering

Densification behavior and mechanical properties of binderless WC spark plasma sintered at 1873/spl sim/2123K for 0/spl sim/30min under 50MPa were investigated. Shrinkage of powder compact started at /spl sim/1373K and sintered density increased markedly with increasing sintering temperatures. Specimens sintered at 2023K for 10min were almost fully dense and showed fine-grained structure. As a result of this improvement in density, mechanical properties, such as hardness and strength, were enhanced remarkably. The fracture toughness of samples was in the range of 4.3/spl sim/6MPa m/sup 1/2/.