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Niobium carbide for wear protection - tailoring its properties by processing and stoichiometry
(2016)
Niobium carbide is a hardly explored carbide but its functional profile shows a high potential for wear protection and tribological applications, which are currently dominated by tungsten carbide. Surprisingly little information is available on niobium carbide (NbC). Niobium carbide can be either synthesized by carbothermal conversion of Nb2O5 or be metallurgically grown and leached out. Furthermore, NbC hardmetal grades can be bonded by all known metallic binders and processed and sintered in exactly the same way as WC-based hardmetals. Niobium is today largely available. NbC can be efficiently produced, provides comparably low friction in many relevant tribo-contacts and displays low wear. NbC and Nb2O5 have so far no REACH classification related to human toxicology and are not listed as substances of very high concern contrary to WO3 and Co3O4. This contribution demonstrates the key characteristics of NbC and discusses its sustainability and reliable value chain.
In the present work it was shown that the addition of VC or a combination of VC + Ti(C0.7N0.3) was efficient in reducing the NbC grain growth during liquid phase sintering, when compared to NbC-Ni equivalents. A finest NbC grain size of 1.48 µm was obtained in the NbC-15 Ti(C0.7N0.3)-10 Ni-7.5 VC cermet, exhibiting a hardness of 1486 +/- 7 kg/mm2 and a fracture toughness of 8.7 +/- 0.1 MPa m 1/2.
The sales of niobium carbide (NbC) have grown in the last years, but NbC is still a hidden carbide and mainly used as grain growth inhibitor in hard metals. In the present work it was shown that the progress in the key properties, like HV30, KIC and strength, followed by machining and tribological results of the respective NbC grades.