Principal investigators: Markus Chmielus and Nikhil Bajaj
University: University of Pittsburgh
Industry partner: General Carbide Corp
Tungsten carbide (WC-Co) parts are used in a variety of highly demanding applications, including tooling, industrial wear and metal forming, powder metal compacting, oil, and gas applications. These applications are usually limited to temperatures below 600°C and non-corrosive environments. In order to broaden the application range of carbides produced by General Carbide, located in southwestern PA. The project team, consisting of General Carbide and the University of Pittsburgh research groups of Drs. Chmielus and Bajaj, will work on developing new carbide-metal powders with superior capabilities (withstand high temperature, corrosive environment, and stronger impact environments) that can be integrated in the current production process of the industrial partner. The objective will be achieved by introducing multiple hard-metal carbide powders to create high entropy carbides, characterizing and correlating the microstructure and properties, and iterating the powder composition via machine learning to optimize part properties based on powder composition and processing conditions.