Evaluation of Sintered Tungsten Carbides by Destructive and Nondestructive Methods

Evaluation of sintered tungsten carbide components is often performed to ensure the carbides meet the appropriate material specification. Testing methods may include hardness, density, metallographic evaluation and electron microscopy techniques help determine the metallurgical quality and associated mechanical properties.

Destructive techniques are time consuming and metallographic samples are limited to a single cross-sectioning plane for each examination. This presentation will examine on how non-destructive techniques may be incorporated to help manufacturers perform lot verification testing in a faster, more cost-effective way.

X-ray examinations are often used for evaluation of defects in metallic materials. However, the high density of tungsten carbides makes the use of this non-destructive technique challenging. This presentation will evaluate the viability of X-ray examination of tungsten carbides and the detectability of various defect types.