Hardmetals or cemented carbides are used in a wide range of applications due to their excellent mechanical properties. WC-Co hardmetals with the same room temperature hardness can be obtained by different combinations of the WC grain size and cobalt content. However, the thermal conductivity of such hardmetal grades is not equal. Applications such as cutting may require a certain combination of hardness and thermal conductivity, which means that a targeted adjustment is desirable. In this study a wide range of hardmetal grades was studied in respect of microstructure, hardness and thermal conductivity in the temperature range between 20 °C and 1000 °C. Results show that thermal conductivity is considerably influenced by Co content, WC grain size and Cr₃C₂ content. Furthermore, hardmetal grades with the same hardness at room temperature retain hardness very differently at elevated temperatures. For the selection of hardmetal grades for high temperature applications these findings help to choose the right composition in regard to Co content and WC grain size.

硬质合金或硬质合金由于其出色的机械性能而被广泛应用于各种应用中。室温硬度相同的WC-Co硬质合金可以通过WC粒度和钴含量的不同组合获得。但是，这种硬质合金牌号的热导率并不相等。诸如切割之类的应用可能需要硬度和导热率的某种组合，这意味着需要进行有针对性的调整。在这项研究中，在20°C至1000°C的温度范围内，研究了各种硬质合金的微观组织，硬度和热导率。结果表明，热导率受Co含量，WC晶粒度和Cr ₃ C _2的影响很大。内容。此外，在室温下具有相同硬度的硬质合金牌号在升高的温度下仍具有非常不同的硬度。在为高温应用选择硬质合金牌号时，这些发现有助于选择关于Co含量和WC晶粒尺寸的正确成分。