Tungsten Carbide
Tungsten Carbide (WC) is an extremely hard material with a high melting point that can be pressed and formed into shapes for use in cutting tools, abrasives, armour-piercing rounds and industrial machine parts. In many applications it is used a matrix with a cobalt binder.
Tungsten Carbide is around twice as stiff as steel with a Young’s modulus of over 500 GPa and a low electrical resistivity of around 0.2 mW.m. In terms of hardness it is comparable to Sapphire or Ruby, ranking 9 on Mohs scale and requires cubic boron nitride or diamond tools and abrasives to be ground and polished into finished components.
Tungsten Carbide applications:
- Cutting tool inserts
- Abrasives
- Armour-piercing rounds
- Industrial machine parts
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| General | |
| Chemical Formula | WC |
| Mechanical | |
| Density | 12 g/cm3 |
| Hardness | 1500 Knoop |
| Modulus of Elasticity | 90 x 106 psi |
| Compressive Strength | 580 kpsi |
| Poisson’s Ratio | 0.24 |
| Electrical | |
| Volume Resistivity | 2.5 x 10-8 Ohm-cm |
| Thermal | |
| Coefficient of Thermal Expansion | 6.0 x 10-6/°C |
| Thermal Conductivity | 42 W/mK |
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