ZCCF Tungsten Carbide

Tungsten carbide, renowned for its extreme hardness, wear resistance, and compressive strength, is hailed as the "Teeth of Industry." It is widely used in cutting tools, molds, mining drill bits, precision components, and other fields. However, to fully realize the potential of tungsten carbide materials, traditional sintering and heat treatment alone are insufficient. The deep-cooling and tempering (DCT) + Tempering process, as an advanced subsequent treatment technology, combines extreme low temperatures with tempering to significantly enhance the overall performance of tungsten carbide products. It has become an indispensable key technology in high-end manufacturing.

The deep-cooling and tempering process is typically performed after conventional heat treatment (quenching and tempering after sintering). The process mainly includes: slowly cooling the tungsten carbide workpiece to an extremely low temperature (usually between -150°C and -196°C), holding it at that temperature for a period of time, slowly returning it to room temperature, and finally conducting one or multiple low-temperature tempering processes. The advantages of this process are not merely physical changes but involve a series of profound microstructural transformations, resulting in the following core advantages:

1. Significantly Improved Wear Resistance and Service Life

This is the most notable advantage of deep-cooling and tempering. After deep-cooling and tempering, the wear resistance of tungsten carbide can be improved by 30% to 300%.

Mechanism: After conventional quenching, a significant amount of unstable retained austenite remains inside the tungsten carbide. This austenite is relatively soft and unstable, prone to transforming into martensite during use, leading to microscopic dimensional changes and early wear. deep-cooling and tempering uses an extremely low-temperature environment to force this retained austenite to transform maximally and stably into a harder and more stable fine martensitic structure. Simultaneously, deep-cooling and tempering promotes a more uniform precipitation of carbon atoms, forming finer and more evenly distributed carbide particles. These ultra-fine carbides act like countless "micron-level hard support points," significantly enhancing the material's ability to resist friction and abrasion.

2. Enhanced Dimensional Stability for Guaranteed Machining Accuracy

For precision tools, measuring instruments, and molds, long-term dimensional stability is crucial.

Mechanism: The spontaneous transformation of retained austenite is a slow, time-dependent process that can cause minute dimensional changes (expansion) in the workpiece during use and storage, thereby affecting accuracy. deep-cooling and tempering completes this transformation process in advance, eliminating the internal source of dimensional instability. This ensures that the workpiece undergoes almost no phase transformation-induced deformation during subsequent use, guaranteeing ultra-high dimensional stability and long-term accuracy retention.

3. Improved Internal Stress Distribution and Enhanced Toughness

Although deep-cooling and tempering itself generates internal stress, the subsequent low-temperature tempering process effectively relieves this newly generated stress and optimizes the overall stress distribution.

Mechanism: The final tempering process not only eliminates the stress induced by deep-cooling and tempering but also makes the newly formed martensitic structure tougher. This combination of "stress relief + microstructure optimization" allows tungsten carbide to achieve ultra-high hardness and wear resistance while avoiding an increase in brittleness, and even improving it. Its impact toughness and fatigue strength are enhanced, reducing the risk of chipping and cracking, and making the product more adaptable to complex impact load conditions.

4. Optimized Comprehensive Mechanical Properties for a Performance Leap

The performance improvements brought by deep-cooling and tempering and tempering are comprehensive, not singular.

Mechanism: In addition to the points above, this process can also improve the material's corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity. A more uniform and stable microstructure means better consistency in the properties of different parts of the material. For a batch of products, deep-cooling and tempering can reduce performance variations between individual pieces, ensuring product quality uniformity and reliability.

In summary, deep-cooling and tempering and tempering is not an independent process but a powerful supplement and enhancement to conventional heat treatment. It uses "deep cold" as a key to unlock the potential of the microscopic world of tungsten carbide. By promoting the transformation of retained austenite and refining carbides, it fundamentally improves the material's wear resistance, dimensional stability, and overall mechanical properties.

In today's manufacturing industry, which constantly pursues high efficiency, high precision, and long service life, tungsten carbide products treated with the deep-cooling and tempering and tempering process undoubtedly occupy the high ground in terms of performance in the fierce market competition. From precision semiconductor cutting blades to heavy-duty mining drill bits, deep-cooling and tempering technology is quietly empowering various industrial "teeth," enabling them to bite through the toughest challenges and create greater value. It represents a paradigm of the deep integration of modern materials science and processing technology and is an indispensable "performance quenching" journey for high-end tungsten carbide products.

All our products undergo deep-cooling and tempering treatment during manufacturing. ZCCF provides you with high quality tungsten carbide dies products featuring exceptional stability and extended service life.