Provided is a cemented carbide suitable for use as a material in the manufacture of a punch for metal forming and in particular for the manufacture of metal beverage cans. The cemented carbide may include a hard phase that includes WC, a binder phase and a gamma phase. The gamma phase may include metal carbides in combination with metal nitrides or metal carbonitrides. A quotient of the average grain size of WC/the average grain size of the gamma phase may be in a range of from 0.5 to 1.5.

A powder containing tungsten carbide has an Fsss particle size of greater than or equal to 0.3 μm and less than or equal to 1.5 μm, and a content rate of the tungsten carbide of greater than or equal to 90% by mass. The powder has a crystallite size (average particle diameter) Y satisfying a relational expression of Y≤0.1×X+0.20 (X: the Fsss particle size of the power containing tungsten carbide).

Devices, systems, and methods are directed at spreading sequential layers of powder across a powder bed and applying energy to each layer to form a three-dimensional object. The powder can include granules including agglomerations of metallic particles to facilitate spreading the metallic particles in each layer. The energy can be directed to the powder to reflow the granules in each layer to bind the metallic particles in the layer to one another and to one or more adjacent layers to form the three-dimensional object. Thus, in general, the agglomeration of the metallic particles in the granules can overcome constraints associated with metallic particles that are of a size ordinarily unsuitable for flowing and/or a size that presents safety risks. By overcoming these constraints, the granules can improve formation of dense finished parts from a powder and can result in formation of unique microstructures in finished parts.

In an example of a method for three-dimensional (3D) printing, build material layers are patterned to form an intermediate structure. During patterning, a binding agent is selectively applied to define: a build material support structure and a patterned intermediate part. Also during patterning, i) the binding agent and a separate agent including a gas precursor or ii) a combined agent including a binder and the gas precursor are selectively applied to define a patterned breakable connection between at least a portion of the build material support structure and at least a portion patterned intermediate part. The intermediate structure is heated to a temperature that activates the gas precursor to create gas pockets in the patterned breakable connection.

This application relates to a method of preparing a composite material for a semiconductor test socket, and a composite material prepared through the method. In one embodiment, the method includes preparing a powder mixture including (i) a metal powder comprising aluminum or aluminum alloy particles and magnesium particles and (ii) a polymer powder. The method may also include sintering the powder mixture to produce the composite material using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. This application also relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor test socket, the method including forming an insulating portion of the semiconductor test socket with the composite material. This application further relates to a semiconductor test socket produced through the method.

A superhard polycrystalline construction comprises a body of polycrystalline superhard material formed of a mass of superhard grains exhibiting inter-granular bonding and defining a plurality of interstitial regions therebetween, and a non-superhard phase at least partially filling a plurality of the interstitial regions and having an associated shape factor of greater than around 0.65 and a substrate bonded to the body of superhard material along an interface, the substrate having a region adjacent the interface comprising hinder material in an amount at least 5% less than the remainder of the substrate.

The present invention relates to a powder mixture for three-dimensional (3D) printing of a cermet or a cemented carbide body. The powder mixture includes 65-85 wt % of porous cemented carbide or cermet particles of a median particle size (D50) of 10-35 μm, and 15-35 wt % of a dense cemented carbide or cermet particles of a median particle size (D50) of 3-10 μm. The present invention also relates to a method of making a cermet or cemented carbide body, the method including the steps of forming the powder mixture, 3D printing a body using the powder mixture and a printing binder and thereby forming a 3D printed cermet or cemented carbide green body and sintering the green body and to form a cermet or cemented carbide body.

A cutting tool made by an additive manufacturing process is disclosed. The cutting tool has an exterior surface and an enclosed interior cavity defined by one or more inwardly facing surfaces. The interior cavity may have internal supports such as a lattice or a honeycomb structure. The cutting tool may be an insert, drill or endmill with coolant holes.

Devices, systems, and methods are directed to the use of nanoparticles for improving strength fabrication of three-dimensional objects formed through layer-by-layer process in which an ink is delivery of a binder delivered onto successive layers of a powder of inorganic particles in a powder bed. More specifically, nanoparticles of inorganic material can may be introduced into one or more layers of the metal powder in the powder bed and thermally processed to facilitate sinter necking, in the powder bed, of the metal particles forming the three-dimensional object. Such sinter necking in the powder bed can may improve strength of the three-dimensional objects being fabricated and, also or instead, can may reduce the likelihood of defects associated with subsequent processing of the three-dimensional objects (e.g., slumping and shrinking in a final sintering stage and/or inadequate densification of the final part).

The invention relates to a method for producing a carbide with a toughness-increasing structure, comprising the following steps: providing a hard material powder, wherein the average BET particle size of the hard material powder is less than 1.0 mm; mixing the hard material powder with a binder powder; shaping the mixture made of hard material powder and binder powder to form a green body; and sintering the green body. The invention also relates to a carbide with a toughness-increasing structure comprising a phase made of hard material particles and a phase made of binder metal heterogeneously distributed in the carbide, which is present in the form of binder islands, wherein the carbide with a toughness-increasing structure produced after the sintering has a phase made of hard material particles with an average particle size in the region between 1 nm and 1000 nm, and the binder islands have an average size of 0.1 μm to 10.0 μm and an average distance between the binder islands of 1.0 μm to 7.0 μm.