Papers by Author: Yu Fang Shen

Abstract: Steel-bonded cemented carbide GT35 was fabricated from natural ilmenite by in-situ carbothermic reduction and vacuum pressureless sintering. The effects of C content on the mechanical properties and microstructures of GT35 composites were investigated. As an excellent reducer, carbon provides an impetus for a series of reductive process. C content determines the melting point of the steel matrix, and directly affects the mechanism of dissolving and segregating of TiC particles, forming a netlike microstructure. Besides, the liquid steel whose viscosplasticity is determined by C content was coated on the surface of the composite and refrained the release of CO. The results showed that the good mechanical properties of steel-bonded cemented carbide GT35 composite were obtained with 0.9wt.% C at the same sintering conditions and the density reached 6.12g/cm3, the average bending strength was over 1229MPa after heat treatment, the mean hardness HRC was 69.4. It also showed that in-situ reduction of natural limonite was a feasible way to fabricate good performance GT35 composite with a relatively low cost.

Abstract: In the present study, steel-bonded cemented carbide GT35 has been fabricated from natural ilmenite by in-situ carbothermic reduction and vacuum pressureless sintering. The effect of different carbon source on the mechanical properties and microstructure of GT35 composite was studied. The quality of the composite synthesized from natural graphite is higher than those from other carbon source. Some good results were obtained from experiments: the density is about 6.2g/cm3, and the bending strength is 1390MPa, which higher than that of other samples. The structures and ingredient of different carbon source were analyzed to elucidate their different performance in the reactions.

Abstract: Steel-bonded cemented carbide GT35 was fabricated from natural ilmenite by in-situ synthesis and vacuum pressureless sintering. The thermodynamics of the synthesis process were analyzed. The results indicated that the stable phases were TiC and iron in the FeTiO3-C system. During the synthesis process, ilmenite was reduced by graphite via a series of titanium oxides to obtain hard phase (TiC) and the steel matrix as the ultimate products. The experimental results shown that GT35 had a reasonable phase composition and fine TiC particles embedded uniformly in the steel matrixes. The composites exhibited excellent mechanical properties: the relative density was higher than 97%, the hardness reached HRC 61.5 and the maximal bending strength was about 1270MPa.