5.GENERALDISCUSSIONANDCONCLUSIONS.PDFVIP

General discussions and conclusions 5. GENERAL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The results presented in this investigation prove that varying thermal shock temperature affect the wear rate of WC-12wt%Co alloys; refer to Figure 4.4. The wear rate of WC-12wt%Co after thermal shock was found to be initially high compared to samples without thermal shock. This initial wear rate was influenced by the heating temperature in that as the temperature increased from 600°C to 1000°C higher initial wear rates were recorded. No such effects were observed with respect to increasing thermal shock cycles; refer to Figure 4.6. As the wear tests progressed, the rate of mass loss under all test conductions converged, implying that the specimens have only been damaged down to a certain depth. Time required for the wear rates to converge increased with increasing temperature and thermal shock cycles. The highest measured wear rate was after ~7.0 seconds of abrasive wear. In this study the thickness of the layer removed after ~7.0 sec of abrasive wear on a sample subjected to thermal shock of 60 cycles at 1000°C was approximated to be 13.3 µm (see Table 4.4). These thicknesses appear to be higher because of the hard abrasive material (SiC) used in this study. These thicknesses are based on theoretical extrapolation, however these calculations will not be valid as the wear rate reaches steady state because they are based on the assumption that the volume of the material lost increases with cycles. Assuming that this thickness is removed after every cycle which would simulate rock drilling in mining industries; after 10 cycles of abrasive wear a thickness of ~133 µm would be removed. After 60 cycles a thickness of ~796 µm will be removed and so on. This is a considerable thickness considering that the initial high m