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Cemented carbides, also known as Widia, are hard metals produced by sintering process and widely used in mechanical machining. They show high cutting capacity and good wear resistance; consequently, they result to be excellent materials for manufacturing cutting tools and sandblast nozzles. In this work, the wear resistance of WC-Co carbides containing Eta-phase, a secondary phase present in the hard metals when a carbon content deficiency occurs, is analyzed. Different mixtures of carbide are prepared and sintered, with different weight percentages of carbon, in order to form Eta-phase and then analyze how the carbon content influences the wear resistance of the material. This characterization is carried out by abrasive wear tests. The test parameters are chosen considering the working conditions of sandblast nozzles. Additional information is gathered through microscopic observations and the evaluation of hardness and microhardness of the different mixtures. The analyses highlight that there is a limit of carbon content below which bad sintering occurs. Considering the mixtures without these sintering problems, they show a wear resistance depending on the size and distribution of the Eta-phase; moreover, the one with high carbon content deficiency shows the best performance.

In this paper, microstructure and some properties of various coatings based on WC-Co obtained by the High Velocity Air Fuel technique are discussed. Initially, two WC-Co 83-17 powders of standard and superfine size were examined as a feedstock for a coatings deposition on a steel substrate. A standard Amperit 526.074 powder and an Inframat superfine powder were applied. Then three different sub-micrometric powders, WC, Cr3C2 and TiC were applied to modify the microstructure of WC-Co (Amperit 526.074). The aim of the investigations was to compare the microstructure and basic properties of coatings deposited from different components. The influence of sub-micrometric additions on mechanical properties of basic coatings was analyzed. Microstructure characterization of powders by using SEM and characterization of their technological properties as well, are presented. For all manufactured coatings obtained by a High Velocity Air Fuel method, the microhardness, porosity, adhesion to a substrate, and fracture toughness were determined. An improvement in WC-Co coating properties, as a result of sub-micrometric carbides addition, was revealed.