Abstract: A sintered cemented carbide body including tungsten carbide, and a substantially cobalt-free binder including an iron-based alloy sintered with the tungsten carbide. The iron-based alloy is approximately 2-25% of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may be approximately 90 wt % and the iron-based alloy may be approximately 10 wt % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may comprise a substantially same size before and after undergoing sintering. The iron-based alloy may be sintered with the tungsten carbide using a uniaxial hot pressing process, a spark plasma sintering process, or a pressureless sintering process. The sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy has a hardness value of at least 15 GPa and a fracture toughness value of at least 11 MPa?m.

Abstract: A sintered cemented carbide body including tungsten carbide, and a substantially cobalt-free binder including an iron-based alloy sintered with the tungsten carbide. The iron-based alloy is approximately 2-25% of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may be approximately 90 wt % and the iron-based alloy may be approximately 10 wt % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may comprise a substantially same size before and after undergoing sintering. The iron-based alloy may be sintered with the tungsten carbide using a uniaxial hot pressing process, a spark plasma sintering process, or a pressureless sintering process. The sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy has a hardness value of at least 15 GPa and a fracture toughness value of at least 11 MPa?m.

Abstract: A sintered cemented carbide body including tungsten carbide, and a substantially cobalt-free binder including an iron-based alloy sintered with the tungsten carbide. The iron-based alloy is approximately 2-25% of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may be approximately 90 wt % and the iron-based alloy may be approximately 10 wt % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may comprise a substantially same size before and after undergoing sintering. The iron-based alloy may be sintered with the tungsten carbide using a uniaxial hot pressing process, a spark plasma sintering process, or a pressureless sintering process. The sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy has a hardness value of at least 15 GPa and a fracture toughness value of at least 11 MPa?m.

Abstract: A sintered cemented carbide body including tungsten carbide, and a substantially cobalt-free binder including an iron-based alloy sintered with the tungsten carbide. The iron-based alloy is approximately 2-25% of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may be approximately 90 wt % and the iron-based alloy may be approximately 10 wt % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may comprise a substantially same size before and after undergoing sintering. The iron-based alloy may be sintered with the tungsten carbide using a uniaxial hot pressing process, a spark plasma sintering process, or a pressureless sintering process. The sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy has a hardness value of at least 15 GPa and a fracture toughness value of at least 11 MPa?m.

Abstract: A sintered cemented carbide body including tungsten carbide, and a substantially cobalt-free binder including an iron-based alloy sintered with the tungsten carbide. The iron-based alloy is approximately 2-25% of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may be approximately 90 wt % and the iron-based alloy may be approximately 10 wt % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may comprise a substantially same size before and after undergoing sintering. The iron-based alloy may be sintered with the tungsten carbide using a uniaxial hot pressing process, a spark plasma sintering process, or a pressureless sintering process. The sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy has a hardness value of at least 15 GPa and a fracture toughness value of at least 11 MPa?m.

Abstract: A method for fabricating tungsten carbide cermet components or parts employs powder bed fusion of powder mixture of ceramic particles and metal binder. Some embodiments also include a step of hot isostatic pressing to increase the density of the part.

Abstract: A sintered cemented carbide body including tungsten carbide, and a substantially cobalt-free binder including an iron-based alloy sintered with the tungsten carbide. The iron-based alloy is approximately 2-25 % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may be approximately 90 wt % and the iron-based alloy may be approximately 10 wt % of the overall weight percentage of the sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy. The tungsten carbide may comprise a substantially same size before and after undergoing sintering. The iron-based alloy may be sintered with the tungsten carbide using a uniaxial hot pressing process, a spark plasma sintering process, or a pressureless sintering process. The sintered tungsten carbide and iron-based alloy has a hardness value of at least 15 GPa and a fracture toughness value of at least 11 MPa?m.

Abstract: Gun barrels made from advanced materials have the potential to provide a significant increase in barrel life as well as a reduction in weight (for advanced ceramic materials) for small caliber systems. The potential use of advanced materials as gun barrels is severely limited due to the difficulty in introducing the rifling pattern on the inner diameter. Most projectiles coming out of the guns are spin stabilized (for aerodynamic flight stability). This spin is imparted by a rifling pattern (lands and grooves) in the inner surface of the gun barrel. The processing of gun barrels made from advanced materials with internal rifling pattern poses a tremendous processing challenge to the materials community. The rifling lands and grooves and desired twist rate coupled with the difficulty of machining some of the advanced materials (ceramics, cermets, hardmetals, etc.) makes the economic manufacturing of such gun barrels extremely difficult.