Development of VC-Ni Eutectic Alloys for Wear Resistance

Abstract

Vanadium carbide is less dense, harder and tougher than tungsten carbide, and nickel is more corrosion resistant that cobalt. Replacing the binder with Ni should improve the corrosion resistance. Since there are eutectics with a wide range of compositions in the C-Ni-V system, this system has potential for wear resistant alloys with ~VC as the discrete hard phase and the nickel solid solution as the binder. The aim of this work was to ascertain if eutectic microstructures with vanadium carbides could be beneficial to wear resistance. Phase studies confirmed the wide range of the eutectic alloys, with VC + (Ni), VC + σ′, VC + (V) and graphite + (Ni) and different morphologies. Preliminary wear tests showed results comparable to WC-Co alloys.