Research on Ultrafine Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt (WC-Co) Cemented Carbide Rods of Miniature Drills for Highly Integrated Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

Nanocrystalline tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) composite powders produced through spray thermal decomposition-continuous reduction and carburization technology were used to prepare φ3.25 mm×38 mm ultrafine tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) cemented carbide rods through vacuum sintering plus sinterhip technology. The microstructure, Vickers hardness, density and Rockwell A hardness (HRA), transverse rupture strength (TRS), saturated magnetization and coercivity force were tested. The results show that the average grain size of the sintering body prepared through vacuum sintering plus sinterhip technology was 430 nm; transverse rupture strength (TRS) was 3850 MPa; Vickers hardness was 1890 and Rockwell A hardness of sintering body was 93. High strength and high hardness ultrafine WC-Co cemented carbide rods used to manufacture printed circuit board (PCB) drills were obtained.