Bimodal cemented carbide powders for additive manufacturing and structured bodies made therefrom

A method of making a powder composition for binder jet printing comprising:

• forming a slurry by milling metal carbide particles and from 9 to 11 weight percent of a metallic binder based on total weight of the slurry;
• spray drying the slurry to form a powder;
• sintering a first portion of the powder;
• milling and sieving the first portion of the powder to a D50 of from 15 μm to 45 μm;
• and sintering the first portion of the powder for a second time in a partial liquid state to form a first mode;
• forming a second mode by milling a second portion of the powder form non-spherical cemented carbide particles having a D50 of from 5 μm to 15 μm;
• and
• combining the first mode and the second mode.

A method of forming a sintered cemented carbide body comprising:

• binder jet printing a powder composition comprising sintered cemented carbide particles comprising a first mode comprising spherical sintered cemented carbide particles having a D50 of from 15 μm to 45 μm;
• and a second mode comprising non-spherical cemented carbide particles having a D50 of from 5 μm to 15 μm, wherein the sintered cemented carbide particles comprise from 9 to 11 weight percent of a metallic binder based on total weight of the sintered cemented carbide particles, and the sintered cemented carbide body has a theoretical density percentage equal to or greater than 99% and a printing binder to form a green body;
• and
• sintering the green body to provide the sintered cemented carbide body.