The application of cemented carbide
(1) Tool material
Carbide is used as the largest number of tool materials, can make turning tools, milling tools, planing knives, drills and so on. Tungsten cobalt carbide is suitable for ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal short chip processing and non-metallic materials processing, such as cast iron, cast brass, Bakelite and so on; Tungsten-titanium-cobalt cemented carbide is suitable for long chip processing of ferrous metals such as steel. Among similar alloys, those with more cobalt content are suitable for roughing, and those with less cobalt content are suitable for finishing. General purpose cemented carbide has a much longer processing life for difficult materials such as stainless steel than other cemented carbide.
(2) Mold materials
Tungsten carbide is mainly used as cold drawing die, cold punching die, cold extrusion die, cold pier die and other cold mold.
Table② Physical and mechanical properties of commonly used cemented carbide
Grade | Physical and mechanical properties (not less than) | ||
Density (g/cm3) | Hardness（HRA） | Intensity σｂ/MPa | |
YG3X | 15.0~15.3 | 91.5 | 1079 |
YG6 | 14.6~15.0 | 89.5 | 1422 |
YG6X | 14.6~15.0 | 91.0 | 1373 |
YG8 | 14.5~14.9 | 89.0 | 1471 |
YG8N | 14.5~14.9 | 89.5 | 1471 |
YG11C | 14.0~14.4 | 86.5 | 2060 |
YG15 | 13.0~14.2 | 87.0 | 2060 |
YG4C | 14.9~15.2 | 89.5 | 1422 |
YG6A | 14.6~15.0 | 91.5 | 1373 |
YG8C | 14.5~14.9 | 88.0 | 1716 |
YT5 | 12.5~13.2 | 89.5 | 1373 |
YT14 | 11.2~12.0 | 90.5 | 1177 |
YT30 | 9.3~9.7 | 92.5 | 883 |
YW1 | 12.6~13.5 | 91.5 | 1177 |
YW2 | 12.4~13.5 | 90.5 | 1324 |
Under the wear-resistant working conditions of bearing impact or strong impact, carbide cold heading die has good impact toughness, fracture toughness, fatigue strength, bending strength and good wear resistance. Usually choose medium, high cobalt and medium and coarse grain alloy grades, common such as YG15C.
Generally speaking, the wear resistance of cemented carbide and the relationship between toughness are contradictory: the improvement of wear resistance will lead to the reduction of toughness, and the improvement of toughness will inevitably lead to the reduction of wear resistance. Therefore, when selecting the alloy grade, it is necessary to meet the specific requirements of use according to the processing object and processing working conditions.
If the selected brand is easy to produce early cracking and damage in use, it is appropriate to choose a brand with higher toughness; If the selected brand is easy to produce early wear and damage in use, it is appropriate to choose a brand with higher hardness and better wear resistance. The following grades: YG15C, YG18C, YG20C, YL60, YG22C, YG25C from left to right, the hardness is reduced, the wear resistance is reduced, the toughness is improved; On the contrary, the opposite is true.
(3) Measuring tools and wear-resistant parts
Tungsten carbide is used for abrasive surface inlays and parts of measuring tools, precision bearings of grinding machines, guides and guide bars of center-less grinding machines, and wear-resistant parts such as lathe centers.
Sandra 
Sandra Zhang