Does it make sense to do any kind of Fatigue analysis for Tungstencarbid ?

[LCform]

Hi All

I was wondering , the Tungesten carbide, being a very durable composition , if it's used in any circumstance, that has a lot of contact with other parts (with much less hardness) it would have a fatigue limit, let's say comparatively that it can have a 10 times longer fatigue limit(number of cycles) to other tool steels like M2, but if it fails, there is no way to improve the Tungsten carbide. so does it make sense to apply a fatigue analysis on this material?

 

[mp87]

Hi,

[ol 1]
[li]The fatigue behaviour of WC can be controlled. Indeed, being a composite material, not only you can change the composition of the binder and the carbides, but also their shape, size, distribution, weight fraction. See this article for a nice overview of the many parameters involved in the design of this class of materials.[/li]
[li]The conclusion that a fatigue analysis would be useless if one cannot carry out any material improvement is simply illogical. On the contrary, there may be cases where it would make even more sense to verify that the part can withstand the service loads.[/li]
[li]If surface fatigue is not the main wear mechanism involved, I would be more concerned with the tribological properties of WC rather than on fatigue strength.[/li]
[/ol]