materials engineering, ceramics field ,powder technology and materials scientific
Wikipedia has a good entry on this. It lists, in part, the following applications (to which I have added a couple and added some notes to the ones from Wikipedia). Most of these applications also use nitrides and industrial diamonds.
Wedding bands (some caution here - this material is too hard to cut if it needs to be removed in an emergency but may be brittle enough to shatter)
Armor and bullet-proof vests or similar materials
Inserts on cutting tools (bits, blades, abrasive paper, etc.)
Coatings to reduce friction and wear, including some high-end brake pads
High-temperature applications (crucibles and heated tips)
High-temperature electric heating elements
Nuclear fuel cladding or coating
Buttons on mining equipment and similar high wear parts
Automotive components (dies and high wear parts)
Canning tools for deep drawing of two-piece cans
Rotary cutters for high-speed cutting of artificial fibres
Metal forming tools for wire drawing and stamping applications
Rings and bushings typically for bump and seal applications
Woodworking, e.g., for sawing and planing applications
Pump pistons for high-performance pumps (e.g., in nuclear installations)
Nozzles, e.g., high-performance nozzles for oil drilling applications
Roof and tail tools and components for high wear resistance
Balls for ball bearings and ballpoint pens
Cemented carbides are a family of metal matrix composites (MMC’s), of which the most common example is tungsten carbide (WC). In general they consist of hard ceramic particles in a metallic matrix.
The toughness of these ceramic materials is increased by combining with metals such as cobalt. Production involves mixing of powders of both materials, pressing, and heating to above the melting temperature of cobalt. The molten cobalt surrounds the ceramic particles and bonds the composite together forming a tough, impact resistant material.
Due to their high hardness and excellent impact resistance, cemented carbides are most commonly used for cutting tools in lathes and similar industrial machines. They can be used to machine materials such as quenched and tempered steels. Due to their stiffness, they can be used to machine materials to high tolerances.
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