What is cemented carbide?

Cemented carbides represent a group of materials which differ from other hard materials such as ceramics, corundum or diamond in view of their metallic properties.

These metallic properties include for example good electrical and thermal conductivity.

Carbide is a powder-metallurgical two-phase material consisting of a hard material phase and a metal binder phase. The hard material provides the necessary hardness (= wear resistance) and the binder metal guarantees appropriate toughness.

In the case of cemented carbides for cutting tools and wear protection, tungsten carbide (WC) is generally used as a hard carbide phase and cobalt (Co) as metal binder (binder phase). The reason for this is that applying this combination the best physical and mechanical properties can be obtained.