Hard material and method of making the same from an aqueous hard material milling slurry

A method of making an aqueous emulsion for use in milling an aqueous slurry of hard material powder components, the method comprising the following steps:

• mixing together under heating an oxidation inhibitor in an amount between about 0.6 weight percent and about 1.4 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and water to form an oxidation inhibitor-water mixture;
• melting paraffin wax in an amount up to about 2.75 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and myristic acid in an amount between about 0.10 weight percent and about 0.50 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry to form a paraffin wax-myristic acid solution;
• adding the oxidation inhibitor-water mixture into the paraffin wax-myristic acid solution to form a pre-blended emulsion;
• and
• blending the pre-blended emulsion to form the aqueous emulsion.

A method of making an aqueous slurry of hard material powder components, the method comprising the steps of:

• mixing together under heating an oxidation inhibitor in an amount between about 0.6 weight percent and about 1.4 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and water to form an oxidation inhibitor-water mixture;
• melting paraffin wax in an amount up to about 2.75 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and myristic acid in an amount between about 0.10 weight percent and about 0.50 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry to form a paraffin wax-myristic acid solution;
• adding the oxidation inhibitor-water mixture into the paraffin wax-myristic acid solution to form a pre-blended emulsion;
• blending the pre-blended emulsion to form an aqueous emulsion;
• combining the aqueous emulsion and hard material powder components wherein the hard material powder components comprising hard carbide powder and metallic binder powder;
• adding water to the combination of the aqueous emulsion and hard material powder components to form a slurry;
• and
• milling the slurry for a pre-selected time to from a milled slurry.

A method of making a hard material powder from hard material powder components, the method comprising the steps of:

• mixing together under heating an oxidation inhibitor in an amount between about 0.6 weight percent and about 1.4 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and water to form an oxidation inhibitor-water mixture;
• melting paraffin wax in an amount up to about 2.75 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and myristic acid in an amount between about 0.10 weight percent and about 0.50 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry to form a paraffin wax-myristic acid solution;
• adding the oxidation inhibitor-water mixture into the paraffin wax-myristic acid solution to form a pre-blended emulsion;
• blending the pre-blended emulsion to form an aqueous emulsion;
• combining the aqueous emulsion and hard material powder components wherein the hard material powder components comprising hard carbide powder and metallic binder powder;
• adding water to the combination of the aqueous emulsion and hard material powder components to form a slurry;
• milling the slurry for a pre-selected time to from a milled slurry;
• and
• drying the milled slurry to form the hard material powder wherein the drying is selected from the group consisting of vacuum drying and spray drying.

A method of making a hard material article from hard material powder components, the method comprising the steps of:

• mixing together under heating an oxidation inhibitor in an amount between about 0.6 weight percent and about 1.4 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and water to form an oxidation inhibitor-water mixture;
• melting paraffin wax in an amount up to about 2.75 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry and myristic acid in an amount between about 0.10 weight percent and about 0.50 weight percent of the hard material powder components in the aqueous slurry to form a paraffin wax-myristic acid solution;
• adding the oxidation inhibitor-water mixture into the paraffin wax-myristic acid solution to form a pre-blended emulsion;
• blending the pre-blended emulsion to form an aqueous emulsion;
• combining the aqueous emulsion and hard material powder components wherein the hard material powder components comprising hard carbide powder and metallic binder powder;
• adding water to the combination of the aqueous emulsion and hard material powder components to form a slurry;
• milling the slurry for a pre-selected time to from a milled slurry;
• drying the milled slurry to form the hard material powder wherein the drying is selected from the group consisting of vacuum drying and spray drying;
• and
• consolidating the hard material powder to form the hard material article.