Is Carbide Tungsten Steel? What's the Difference Between the Two?

01 Carbide

Cemented carbide is made of hard compounds of refractory metals and bonding metals through a powder metallurgy process. It is an alloy material with extremely high hardness. Tungsten carbide (WC) is the main component of cemented carbide, accounting for 70%-97% of the total composition; the bonding metal is used to bond the alloy, and the content is usually 3%-30%. During the sintering process, It can surround tungsten carbide powder and bond it tightly together, and after cooling, it becomes a cemented carbide.

Therefore, commonly used cemented carbide is divided into three categories according to composition and performance characteristics: tungsten-cobalt, tungsten-titanium-cobalt, and tungsten-titanium-tantalum (niobium). The most widely used in production are tungsten-cobalt and tungsten-titanium-cobalt cemented carbide.

1) Tungsten-cobalt cemented carbide

The main components are tungsten carbide (WC) and cobalt. The brand name is represented by the code YG (prefixed by the Chinese pinyin of "hard" and "cobalt"), followed by the percentage value of the cobalt content. For example, YG6 represents a tungsten-cobalt cemented carbide with a cobalt content of 6% and a tungsten carbide content of 94%.

2) Tungsten titanium cobalt carbide

The main components are tungsten carbide (WC), titanium carbide (TiC) and cobalt. The brand name is represented by the code YT (prefix of the Chinese pinyin of "hard" and "titanium"), followed by the percentage value of titanium carbide content. For example, YT15 represents a tungsten-titanium-cobalt carbide with a titanium carbide content of 15%.

3) Tungsten titanium tantalum (niobium) carbide

This type of cemented carbide is also called universal cemented carbide or universal cemented carbide. Its main components are tungsten carbide (WC), titanium carbide (TiC), tantalum carbide (TaC) or niobium carbide (NbC) and cobalt. The brand name is represented by the code YW (prefixed by the Chinese pinyin of "hard" and "wan") followed by an ordinal number.

02 The difference between tungsten steel and cemented carbide

Generally speaking, tungsten steel is smelted by adding tungsten raw materials to molten steel using a steelmaking process. It is also called high-speed steel or tool steel. Its tungsten content is generally 15-25%. In addition to the production of high-speed steel by smelting methods, there is also powder metallurgy high-speed steel, which avoids the reduction of mechanical properties and heat treatment deformation caused by carbide segregation caused by smelting production.

Cemented carbide is made by sintering tungsten carbide as the main body and cobalt or other bonding metals using a powder metallurgy process. Its tungsten content is generally above 80%.

Simply put, all alloys with a hardness exceeding HRC65 can be called cemented carbide, so tungsten steel belongs to cemented carbide; but strictly speaking, cemented carbide is not necessarily tungsten steel.