Production of near-stoichiometric spherical tungsten carbide particles
AssigneeKennametal Inc.
InventorsHarold Edward Kelley, Pankaj K. Mehrotra
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Near-stoichiometric spherical tungsten carbide particles and a method for making near-stoichiometric spherical tungsten carbide particles are disclosed. The method of making these particles may comprise coating a starting powder with a carbon containing compound followed by plasma processing the starting powder in a plasma formed by known ionization techniques using a suitable fluid medium. The near-stoichiometric spherical tungsten carbide particles exhibit desirable particle uniformity, impact resistance, and wear resistance in a variety of applications.
Claims13
A method of producing substantially spherical tungsten carbide particles comprising:
- coating a starting powder comprising non-spherical stoichiometric WC particles with a carbon-containing compound;
- and
- heating the coated stoichiometric WC particles in the presence of a plasma to produce the substantially spherical tungsten carbide particles.
A method of producing substantially spherical tungsten carbide particles comprising:
- heating non-spherical tungsten carbide particles coated with a carbon-containing compound in a plasma containing chamber to produce the substantially spherical tungsten carbide particles.
A hard carbide powder comprising substantially spherical, near-stoichiometric tungsten carbide particles, wherein the substantially spherical tungsten carbide particles comprise WC1-x, where x ranges from 0.001 to 0.25.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.