M. Emmanuel; O. Gavalda-Diaz; G. Sernicola; R. M’saoubi; T. Persson; S. Norgren; K. Marquardt; T. B. Britton; F. Giuliani
Jom 73 (2021) 1589-1596
The grain boundary network of WC in WC-Co is important, as cracks often travel intergranularly. This motivates the present work, where we experimentally measure the fracture energy of Σ2 twist grain boundaries between WC crystals using a double cantilever beam opened with a wedge under displacement control in a WC-10wt%Co sample. The fracture energy of this boundary type was compared with cleaving {10 1 ¯ 0 } prismatic planes in a WC single crystal. Fracture energies of 7.04 ± 0.36 Jm−2 and 3.57 ± 0.28 Jm−2 were measured for {10 1 ¯ 0 } plane and Σ2 twist boundaries, respectively.