EXPLORATORY RESEARCH ON THE EFFECT OF NON-OXIDATIVE HEATING ON THE PERFORMANCE PROPERTIES OF HARD ALLOY PRODUCTS

The most applicable methods for increasing the resistance of hard alloys are mechanical processing, application of wear-resistant films and coatings. Along with this, another area of interest of improving the operational properties of cutting tools is heat treatment. The common disadvantages of these methods are a slight increase in resistance and insufficient stability of the results obtained. In this regard, we conducted a series of experimental studies aimed at studying the effect of heat treatment of hard alloy products on their performance characteristics (hardness and wear resistance). The use of hardening technologies for processing cutting tools to reduce the instability of their cutting properties remains an urgent problem. There are various methods of hardening carbide cutting tools, which are divided into three groups: mechanical processing, coating and heat treatment. At the same time, heat treatment is a simple method providing acceptable results. The heat treatment conditions for powder cemented carbides differ from the treatment conditions for compact steels. Porosity intensifies many chemical processes during heat treatment due to considerable activity of the surface of the products manufactured by using powder materials, and enhances susceptibility to oxidation and decarburization during heating for hardening [1–22]. The purpose of this paper was to determine the influence of heat treatment (heating temperature changes prior to quenching and tempering) on hardness, strength, bending and wear-resistant properties of cemented carbide samples.