Tungsten carbide is widely used in carbide tools. However, its production process generates a significant number of end-of-life products and by-products. Therefore, it is necessary to develop efficient recycling methods and investigate the remanufacturing of tungsten carbide using recycled materials. Herein, we have recovered 99.9% of the tungsten in cemented carbide hard scrap as tungsten oxide via an alkali leaching process. Subsequently, using the recovered tungsten oxide as a starting material, tungsten carbide has been produced by employing a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) method. SHS is advantageous as it reduces the reaction time and is energy-efficient. Tungsten carbide with a carbon content of 6.18 wt % and a particle size of 116 nm has been successfully synthesized by optimizing the SHS process parameters, pulverization, and mixing. In this study, a series of processes for the highefficiency recycling and quality improvement of tungsten-based materials have been developed.

Because of its unique properties, tungsten is a strategic and rare metal used in various industrial applications. However, the world's annual production of tungsten is only 84000 t. Ammonium paratungstate (APT), which is used as the main intermediate in industrial tungsten production, is usually obtained from tungsten concentrates of wolframite and scheelite by hydrometallurgical treatment. Intermediates such as tungsten trioxide, tungsten blue oxide, tungstic acid, and ammonium metatungstate can be derived from APT by thermal decomposition or chemical attack. Tungsten metal powder is produced through the hydrogen reduction of high-purity tungsten oxides, and tungsten carbide powder is produced by the reaction of tungsten powder and carbon black powder at 1300–1700oC in a hydrogen atmosphere. Tungsten scrap can be divided into hard and soft scrap based on shape (bulk or powder). It can also be divided into new scrap generated during the production of tungsten-bearing goods and old scrap collected at the end of life. Recycling technologies for tungsten can be divided into four main groups: direct, chemical, and semi-direct recycling, and melting metallurgy. In this review, the current status of tungsten smelting and recycling technologies is discussed.

This study is carried out to obtain basic data regarding oxidation and reduction reactions, originated on the recycling of waste tungsten hard scraps by oxidation and reduction processes. First, it is estimated that the theoretical Gibbs free energy for the formation reaction of WO2 and WO3 are calculated as ΔG1,000K= -407.335 kJ/mol and ΔG1,000K = -585.679 kJ/mol, from the thermodynamics data reported by Ihsan Barin. In the experiments, the oxidation of pure tungsten rod by oxygen is carried out over a temperature range of 700-1,000oC for 1 h, and it is possible to conclude that the oxidation reaction can be represented by a relatively linear relationship. Second, the reduction of WO2 and WO3 powder by hydrogen is also calculated from the same thermodynamics data, and it can be found that it was difficult for the reduction reaction to occur at 1,027oC, in the case of WO2, but it can happen for temperatures higher than 1127oC. On the other hand, WO3 reduction reaction occurs at the relatively low temperature of 827oC. Based on these results, the reduction experiments are carried out at a temperature range of 500-1,000oC for 15 min to 4 h, in the case of WO3 powder, and it is possible to conclude that the reduction at 900oC for 2h is needed for a perfect reduction reaction.

In this paper, experimental studies of the regrinding of tungsten carbide (WC-Co) tools for high-speed machining were conducted. Regrinding and a subsequent evaluation test were carried out for a flat endmill tool with diameters of 10 mm and 3 mm using a CNC five-axis tool grinder and a CNC three-axis machining center. Tool wear on the two types of endmill tools increased as the cutting length increased, and the tool wear was not influenced by the regrinding state. In case of the micro endmill with a tool diameter of 3 mm, the effective regrinding time was determined for a flank wear threshold of 0.3 mm considering the tool life according to cutting length. The tool lives of the 10 mm and 3 mm endmill tools were increased by 80% and 72%, respectively. This conclusion proves the Feasibility of the recycling of tungsten carbide materials in the high-speed machining of high-hardened materials for industrial applications.