Monday  |  Lakeshore A  |  11:20 AM–11:40 AM

#19741, Strength of Cemented Tungsten Carbide under High Pressures

Tungsten carbide (WC) is a high-density ceramic used in aerospace and defense applications. The deformation and failure behavior of these materials under high pressures are significantly different from their response at lower pressures. Therefore, systematic experimental studies are required for developing material models for applications involving high pressures. In this study, pressure shear plate impact experiments are conducted to study the response of tungsten carbide with varying cobalt content at pressures approaching 50 GPa. The PSPI experiments are performed using a symmetric configuration with progressively increasing angles of inclination (3°,6°,and 18°), resulting in increasing shear loading. The photonic Doppler velocimeter (PDV) was used to measure both normal and transverse velocity profiles. To evaluate the accuracy of current material models for tungsten carbide at high pressures, numerical simulations were performed. These simulations utilized established plasticity and brittle material models and compared the predictions to experimental measurements. This analysis aims to determine the effectiveness of these models in capturing the complex behaviors of tungsten carbide under extreme conditions.

Rushikesh Kabadi   University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Suraj Ravindran   University of Minnesota-Twin Cities