Zhuzhou Aite Cemented Carbide Co., Ltd

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Cemented carbide is a composite material made from refractory metal carbides (primarily tungsten carbide (WC)) and a metal binder (primarily cobalt (Co)) through a powder metallurgical process. It exhibits exceptional hardness, wear resistance, red hardness, and a certain degree of impact toughness, making it a key material for the manufacture of cutting tools, molds, mining tools, and wear-resistant parts.

ⅠCore Concepts
1. Compositional Basics
Tungsten carbide (WC) provides extremely high hardness and wear resistance. A higher WC content improves hardness, wear resistance, and red hardness, but reduces toughness.
Cobalt (Co) acts as a binder, bonding the WC particles together. A higher Co content improves toughness, but reduces hardness and wear resistance.
Other carbides include titanium carbide (TiC), tantalum carbide (TaC), and niobium carbide (NbC). Adding TiC/TaC/NbC significantly improves the alloy's red hardness, oxidation resistance, and crater wear resistance (especially suitable for steel machining), but reduces thermal conductivity and toughness.

2. Main Classifications (Based on Composition and Application)
WC-Co alloys (YG type) are primarily composed of WC and Co. They offer good toughness, thermal conductivity, and impact resistance, but relatively poor red hardness. They are primarily used for machining cast iron, nonferrous metals and their alloys, non-metallic materials, as well as wear-resistant parts and impact drill bits.
WC-TiC-Co alloys (YT type) incorporate TiC into WC-Co alloys. They offer improved red hardness, oxidation resistance, and wear resistance (especially crater wear resistance), making them suitable for machining steel. However, their toughness, thermal conductivity, and impact resistance are lower than those of YG type alloys.
WC-TiC-TaC(NbC)-Co alloys (YW type) are based on YT type alloys with the addition of TaC and/or NbC. They offer better overall performance and greater versatility, combining good red hardness, toughness, and wear resistance. They can process not only steel but also cast iron and nonferrous metals, earning them the name "universal alloy."
Coated carbide is a tough substrate (typically fine-grained or ultrafine-grained WC-Co or alloys with small amounts of other carbides) coated with one or more layers of extremely hard, wear-resistant, and high-temperature-resistant thin films (such as TiC, TiN, Al₂O₃, TiAlN, TiCN, etc.) via CVD or PVD processes. This coating significantly improves surface hardness, wear resistance, and service life, making it a mainstream choice for modern cutting tools.
Ultrafine/nano-grained carbide has very small WC grains (typically under 0.5μm). It exhibits extremely high hardness and strength ("double high") while maintaining good toughness. It is suitable for precision machining, machining difficult-to-machine materials, and micro-tooling.

Ⅱ Comparison table of commonly used grades, ingredients and performance applications (mainly based on China GB brands, with ISO application classification)
     

III. Important Notes

1. Differences in Grade Systems
Different countries and manufacturers have their own grade systems (such as China GB, international ISO, US ANSI, Japan JIS, and proprietary brands by manufacturers such as Sandvik, Kennametal, and Iscar). The above table is primarily based on China GB grades. In practice, the ISO application classification (P/M/K) is more commonly used as a preliminary basis for material selection.

2. Performance Indicators
Density, hardness, and flexural strength are fundamental performance indicators. In practical applications, comprehensive properties such as wear resistance, toughness, red hardness, thermal conductivity, thermal shock resistance, and crater wear resistance are more critical. These properties are closely related to composition, grain size, and manufacturing process.

3. Selection Criteria
Choosing a carbide grade requires a comprehensive evaluation process, considering:
  ◆Working Material: Material type (steel, cast iron, stainless steel, nonferrous metals, high-temperature alloys, nonmetals, etc.), hardness, strength, and work-hardening tendency.
Processing Types: Turning, milling, drilling, planing, tapping, etc.
  ◆Processing Conditions: Roughing, semi-finishing, finishing; continuous cutting, interrupted cutting; cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut; cooling conditions, etc.
  ◆Tool Requirements: Prioritize wear resistance (high-hardness grades) or breakage resistance (high-toughness grades).
  ◆Cost: Grades containing TiC/TaC/NbC and coated grades are more expensive.
  ◆Development Trends: Coated cemented carbide and ultrafine/nano-grained cemented carbide are the current mainstream development directions, significantly improving the overall performance and processing efficiency of cemented carbide. Gradient structures and new binder phases (such as Ni, Fe, NiCo, etc.) are also research hotspots.

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