Title: Micromechanical simulation of crack growth in WC/Co using embedded unit cells
Abstract: Nowadays, hard metals are omnipresent as tool materials in industry. The material behavior is from decisive importance, from the safety point of view as well as from economical aspects. As a result of the manufacturing and coating process cracks are introduced into the surface of hard metal tools. A micromechanical model has been developed in order to simulate crack growth in a WC/Co hard metal. The elastic model consists of a unit cell with a cobalt island in a carbide environment, which is embedded in a composite surrounding. The energy release rate is calculated for a crack propagating along the symmetry plane of the model on a microscopic scale. The cobalt phase influences the crack driving force in an important way. The energy release rate of a crack approaching the cobalt phase increases, while it decreases rapidly for the crack propagating towards the center of the cobalt island. Parametric studies were carried out to determine the influence of different cobalt inclusion shapes and cobalt volume fractions on the energy release rate. Moreover, the energy release rate is calculated for a unit cell with two square cobalt inclusions and compared to crack propagation in a computational cell with a single inclusion.
Publication Year: 1998
Publication Date: 1998-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 36
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