[ ] a cathode material for lithium rechargeable batteries, was prepared using recycled . First, the cobalt hydroxide powders were separated from waste WC-Co hard metal with acid-base chemical treatment, and then the impurities were eliminated by centrifuge method. Subsequently, powders were prepared by thermal treatment of resulting . By adding a certain amount of and , the was obtained by sintering for 10 h in air at . The synthesized particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis.

Nano-sized WC particles in WC/Co composite powders were synthesized by mechanochemical method. The raw powders and graphite) were mixed by planetary milling for 30 hours. The compositions were WC-10 and -20 wt% Co added VC and . The direct reduction and carburization of the mixed powders were carried at for 1 to 3 hours under flowing Ar gas. The mean size of WC particles in WC/Co composite powders was about 16 nm. The resultant powders were compacted and sintered at for 0.5 hour. After sintering the mean size of WC particles was about 50 nm.

A solid stage sinterizacion model of the WC-Co is applied on this work. These results are compaired with the experimental data obtained for nanometric and micrometric sinter powder in an electric furnace and micrometric in a plasma reactor (using Abnormal Glow Discharge AGD). The correlations obtained allow the prediction of the sintering behavior in AGD for nanometric powder. The activation of the solid state sintering is shown with the decraease of the WC size and the use of AGD

Pure WC powders which does not include a binder phase were consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process at 1600~185 for 0~30 min under 50 MPa. Microstructure alid mechanical properties of binderless WC prepared by SPS were investigated. With increasing sintering temperature, sintered density and Vickers hardness of binderless WC increased. The fracture toughness of binderless WC was 7~15 MPa depending on the sintered density and decreased with increasing the Vickers hardness. It is found that the binderless WC prepared by SPS at 175 for 10 min under 50 MPa showed nearly full densification with fine-grained structure and revealed excellent mechanical properties of high hardness (~HV 2400) and considerably high fracture toughness (~7 MPa ).

Nano-sized WC powders were synthesized by vapor phase reaction using the precusor of tungsten ethoxide under helium and hydrogen atmosphere. The phases of the powder were varied with reaction Bone and gas flow rate. The powder size was about 30nm in diameter, and the tungsten carbide powder was coated by carbon layer. The synthesis of nano-sized WC powders was promoted as the hydrogen gas flow rate became higher. Inversely, tungsten oxide was formed by increasing the flow rate of helium gas. The synthesized powders were analyzed by XRD, FE-SEM, carbon analyzer etc.

In this study, the WC-10 wt.%Co nanopowders doped by grain growth inhibiter were produced by three different methods based on the spray conversion process. Agglomerated powders with homeogenous distribution of alloying elements and with internal particles of about 100-200 nm in diameter were synthesized. The microstructural changes and sintering behavior of hardmetal compacts were compared with doping method and sintering conditions. The microstructure of hardmetals was very sensitive to doping methods of inhibitor. Nanostructured WC-Co hardmetal powder compacts containing TaC/VC doped by chemical method instead of ball-milling shown superior sintering densification, and the microstructure maintained ultrafine scale with rounded WC particles.

A new approach to produce nanostructured WC/Co composite powders by a mechanochemical process was made to improve the mechanical properties of advanced hardmetals. Homogeneous spherical W-Co salt powders were made by spray drying of aqueous solution from ammonium metatungstate(,AMT) and cobalt nitrate hexahydrate (Co(NO).6). spray dried W-Co salt powders were calcined for 1 hr at in atmosphere of air. The oxide powder was mixed with carbon black by ball milling and this mixture was heated with various temperatures and times in . The composite oxide powders were obtained by calcinations at . The primary particle size of W/Co composite oxide powders by SEM was 100 nm. The reduction/carburization time decreased with increasing temperatures and carbon additions. The average size of WC particle carburized at by TEM was smaller than 50 nm.

Ultrafine WC-10wt.%Co cemented carbides powders were synthesized by direct carburization. W-Co composite powders and carbon black powders were mixed by wet ball milling and dried. The mixed powders were heated to 800 with heating rate of 8.2/min and held for various times in flowing . For carbon addition of 140%, the carburization was completed by heating at 80 for 4 hours. The carburization time decreased with increasing amount of carbon and carburization was completed by heating at 800 for 2 hours with carbon addition of 150%. WC-10 wt%Co cemented carbides powders fabricated by direct carburization have nanoscale WC(100 nm) size.