Simultaneous synthesis and densification of the tungsten carbide-cobalt-nickel composites by electric activated combustion

The field-activated pressure-assisted combustion synthesis (FAPACS) process, which combines the simultaneous synthesis and densification of materials, was utilized to produce WC-Co-Ni composites from reactant mixtures of W, C, Co and Ni. The effects of the reactant compositions on the compositions, densities and microhardness of synthesized products were investigated. The results show, relative densities of the fabricated products ranged from 97.7 to 99.3%. Vickers microhardness measurement (at 50 kg force) on the dense samples gave values ranging from 15.28 to 18.99 GPa