Carbide alloys suitable for cutting tools and wear parts

Claim 2

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 1 wherein the base alloy composition of the composite is selected from within the boxed-in area EFGH of FIG. 5.

Claim 3

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 1 wherein there are grains of primary carbide dispersed throughout the lamellar microstructure of the composite.

Claim 4

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 1 wherein the tungsten is replaced in part by a member selected from the group consisting of rhenium, molybdenum and combinations thereof; said member comprising to 20 atomic percent of the base alloy composition.

Claim 5

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 1 wherein an alloying material consisting of at least one other metal selected from the Group IVa metals consisting of zirconium, titanium and hafnium is substituted in part in the base alloy compositions; said alloying material comprising up to about 20 atomic percent of the base alloy composition.

Claim 6

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 6 wherein the alloying material comprises up to about 5 atomic percent of each base alloy composition.

Claim 7

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 1 wherein an alloying material selected from the group consisting of vanadium, niobium, and tantalum or a combination thereof is substituted in the metal content in the base alloy compositions, said alloying material comprising up to 5 atomic percent of each base alloy composition.

Claim 8

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 1 wherein the Group IVa metal-tungsten-carbon base alloy composition including any alloying substituents added thereto comprises at least 90 atomic percent of the carbide composite, the remainder being inert ingredients.

Claim 9

A cutting tool in accordance with claim 9 wherein an alloying material consisting of at least one other metal selected from the Group IVa metals consisting of zirconium, titanium and hafnium is substituted in part in the base alloy compositions; said alloying material comprisinG up to about 20 atomic percent of the base alloy composition.

Claim 10

A cutting tool comprising a carbide-metal composite of a composition of from 10 to 40 atomic percent titanium, from 0 to 5 atomic percent of zirconium, hafnium or mixtures thereof, from 30 to 70 atomic percent tungsten, and from 20 to 30 atomic percent carbon, wherein the sum of the atomic percentages of the titanium and the zirconium, or hafnium, or mixture of zirconium and hafnium is from 10 to 40 atomic percent, and wherein the sum of the titanium, zirconium, hafnium, tungsten, and carbon is 100 atomic percent; said composite having a fine-grained, lamellar microstructure derived from a pseudobinary or near-pseudobinary eutectic composition said lamellar microstructure having a monocarbide phase and a metal phase with the metal phase being rich in tungsten and contributing toughness to the composite and said monocarbide phase containing significant amounts of both the tungsten and the Group IVa metals, said carbide composite being shaped to have a cutting edge and being free of an extraneously added binder metal.

Claim 11

A cutting tool as in claim 11, wherein the composition of the composite consists essentially of titanium, zirconium, tungsten, and carbon wherein the zirconium is present in the amounts of about 1 to 5 atomic percent.

Claim 12

A cutting tool blank comprising a cast carbide composite having a base alloy composition of titanium, tungsten and carbon, said composite having a lamellar microstructure characterized by a monocarbide phase and a tungsten-rich metal phase, said composite being derived from solidification of a pseudobinary eutectic or near-pseudobinary eutectic liquid, said base alloy composition being selected from within the boxed-in area ABCD of the ternary diagram, FIG. 4, said blank being capable of being provided with a cutting edge.

Claim 13

A cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 13 wherein an alloying material selected from the group consisting of zirconium, hafnium or a combination thereof is substituted in part for the titanium, said alloying material comprising up to about 5 atomic percent of the base alloy system.

Claim 14

A cutting tool blank comprising a cast carbide composite having a base alloy composition of zirconium, tungsten and carbon, said composite having a lamellar microstructure characterized by a monocarbide phase and a tungsten-rich metal phase said composite being derived from solidification of a pseudobinary eutectic of near-pseudobinary eutectic liquid, said base alloy composition being selected from within the boxed-in area ABCD of the ternary diagram FIG. 5, said blank being capable of being provided with a cutting edge.

Claim 15

A cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 15 wherein an alloying material selected from the group consisting of titanium, hafnium or a combination thereof is substituted in part for the zirconium, said alloying material comprising up to about 5 atomic percent of the base alloy system.

Claim 16

A cutting tool blank comprising a cast carbide composite having a base alloy composition of hafnium, tungsten and carbon, said composite having a lamellar microstructure characterized by a monocarbide phase and a tungsten-rich metal phase said composite being derived from solidifcation of a pseudobinary eutectic or near-pseudobinary eutectic liquid, said base alloy composition being selected from within the boxed-in area ABCD of the ternary diagram FIG. 5, said blank being capable of being provided with a cutting edge.

Claim 17

A cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 17 wherein an alloying material selected from the group consisting of titanium and zirconium or a combination thereof is substituted in part for the hafnium, said alloying material comprising up to about 5 atomic percent of the base alloy system.

Claim 18

A cutting tool blank comprising a carbide-metal composite whose composition comprises from 10 to 40 atomic percent titanium, from 0 to 5 atomic percent of either zirconium, hafnium or mixtures thereof, from 30 to 70 atomic percent tungsten, and from 20 to 30 atomic percent carbon, whereby the sum of the atomic percentages of titanium + zirconium or hafnium, or mixtures of zirconium and hafnium is from 10 to 40 atomic percent, and whereby the sum of the titanium, zirconium, hafnium, tungsten, and carbon is 100 atomic percent; said composite having a lamellar microstructure characterized by a monocarbide phase and a tungsten-rich metal phase; said composite being derived from solidification of a pseudobinary eutectic or near-pseudobinary eutectic liquid; said blank being capable of being provided with a cutting edge.

Claim 19

A cutting tool blank as in claim 19 wherein the composition of the composite consists essentially of titanium, zirconium, tungsten, and carbon wherein the zirconium is present in the amount of about 1 to 5 atomic percent.

Claim 20

A cutting tool comprising a carbide-metal composite of the compositional formula (TixZryHfz) WaCk wherein the subscripts x, y, z, a, and k are given in atomic percent and whereby: 0 < or = x < or = 40 0 < or = y < or = 40 0 < or = z < or = 40 30 < or = a < or = 70 20 < or = k < or = 30 when the fraction x/x+y+z is equal to or greater than 0.5 15 < or = k < or = 30 when the fraction x/x+y+z is less than 0.5 10 < or = (x+y+z) < or = 40 when the fraction x/x+y+z is equal to or greater than 0.5 15 < or = (x+y+z) < or = 40 when the fraction x/x+y+z is less than 0.5; the total of the atomic percentages x, y, z, a, k therefore adding up to 100 At. percent, said carbide composite having a cutting edge.

Claim 21

The process of making a cast cutting tool blank comprising: (1) preparing a melt of a composition of a pseudobinary eutectic or near pseudobinary eutectic base alloy of a Ti-W-C, Zr-W-C, or Hf-W-C composition, which composition is selected from within the boxed-in area ABCD, FIG. 4 when the base alloy is Ti-W-C, and selected from within the boxed-in area ABCD, FIG. 5 when the base alloy is Zr-W-C or Hf-W-C; (2) casting said melt into a mold, (3) solidifying and cooling said melt at a rate of at least 20*C per second to form a solid composite having a fine grained, lamellar, pseudobinary or near pseudobinary eutectic microstructure with grains of either primary carbide or primary refractory metal dispersed throughout said lamellar microstructure, said microstrusture being melt-composition dependent.

Claim 22

The process of preparing a cutting tool which comprises shaping and forming a cutting edge on the blank prepared according to claim 22.

Claim 23

The process of making a cast cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 22 including the step of dispersing grains of primary carbide throughout the lamellar microstructure of the composite.

Claim 24

The process of making a cast cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 22 wherein the tungsten is replaced in part by a member selected from the group consisting of rhenium, molybdenum, and mixtures thereof; said member comprising up to 20 atomic percent of the base alloy composition.

Claim 25

The process of making a cast cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 22 wherein an alloying material consisting of at least one other metal selected from the Group IVa metals consisting of titanium, zirconium and hafnium is substituted in part in the base alloy compositions; said alloying material comprising up to about 5 atomic percent of the base alloy composition.

Claim 26

The process of making a cast cutting tool blank in accordance with claim 26 wherein a second alloying material seleCted from the group consisting of vanadium, niobium, and tantalum, or combination thereof is substituted in part for the metal content of base alloy composition, said second alloying material comprising up to 5 atomic percent of the base alloy composition, and wherein the compositions including any alloying substituents added thereto comprise at lease 90 atomic percent of the carbide composite, the remainder being inert ingredients.

Claim 27

The process of claim 22 wherein the composition being melted is a Ti-W-C composition selected from within the boxed in area ABCD of FIG. 4.

Claim 28

The process of claim 22 wherein the composition being melted is a Zr-W-C composition selected from within the boxed in area ABCD of FIG. 5.

Claim 29

The process of claim 22 wherein the composition being melted is a Hf-W-C composition selected from within the boxed in area ABCD of FIG. 5.

Claim 30

The process of making a cast cutting tool comprising: (1) Melting a composition of a pseudobinary eutectic or near pseudobinary eutectic base alloy of a TixZryHfzWaCk composition wherein the subscripts x, y, z, a, and k are given in atomic percent and wherein: 0 < or = x < or = 40 0 < or = y < or = 40 0 < or = z < or = 40 30 < or = a < or = 70 20 < or = k < or = 30 when the fraction x/x+y+z is equal to or greater than 0.5 15 < or = k < or = 30 when the fraction x/x+y+z is less than 0.5 10 < or = ( x+y+z) < or = 40 when the fraction x/x+y+z is equal to or greater than 0.5 15 < or = (x+y+z) < or = 40 when the fraction x/x+y+z is less than 0.5; the total of the atomic percentages x, y, z, a, k therefore adding up to 100 At. percent, (2) casting the melted composition into a mold, (3) solidifying and cooling said melted composition at a rate of at least 20*C per second to form a solid composite having a fine grained, lamellar, pseudobinary or near pseudobinary eutectic microstructure, said microstructure being melt-composition dependent, (4) dispersing grains of either primary carbide or primary refractory metal throughout said lamellar microstructure, during solidification and cooling, (5) shaping and forming a cutting edge on the solidified composite.

Claim 31

A cutting tool as in claim 11, wherein the composition of the composite is of the elemental formula Ti-Zr-W-C wherein Ti is present at about 20.5 atomic percent Zr is present at about 2.5 atomic percent W is present at about 52 atomic percent C is present at about 25 atomic percent