Spark plasma sintering has been used to successfully produce WC-6Co-xCr3C2, WC-6Co-xTaC (x = 0.2, 0.6, 1.0) and WC-6Co-xCr3C2-xTaC (x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5) cemented carbides. The spark plasma sintered compacts were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, hardness tests and fracture toughness tests. The results were compared to an additives-free WC-6Co cemented carbide consolidated under the same process parameters and commercial ISO K10 inserts. By using Cr3C2 and TaC additives, it is possible to improve the hardness and fracture toughness of WC-Co cemented carbides. The best combination of hardness (1936 ± 15 HV30) and fracture toughness (10.38 ± 0.46 MPa∙m1/2) was obtained by the WC-6Co-1Cr3C2.

The paper presents the results of titanium plasma spraying (TPS) on polymer substrates. Polyethylene (PE300), polyamide PA6, and fiber glass-reinforced polyamide (PA6.6-GF30) were used as substrates. The PE300 and PA6.6-GF30 substrates exhibited appropriate behavior during the TPS process, whereas the PA6 substrate did not “accept” Ti during plasma spraying, and the coating did not form. The TPS coatings exhibited low porosity and high homogeneity, and they had a typical multilayer structure composed of Ti and its oxides. The nanoindentation test showed good mechanical properties of the coatings and demonstrated a hardness and a Young’s modulus of approximately 400 HV and 200 GPa, respectively. The bending test confirmed the good adhesion of the titanium coatings to the polymer substrates. The Ti coatings did not fall off the substrate after its significant bending deformation.

Combining high energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering is one of the most promising technologies in materials science. The mechanical alloying process enables the production of nanostructured composite powders that can be successfully spark plasma sintered in a very short time, while preserving the nanostructure and enhancing the mechanical properties of the composite. Composites with MAX phases are among the most promising materials. In this study, Ti/SiC composite powder was produced by high energy ball milling and then consolidated by spark plasma sintering. During both processes, Ti₃SiC₂, TiC and Ti₅Si₃ phases were formed. Scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction study showed that the phase composition of the spark plasma sintered composites consists mainly of Ti₃SiC₂ and a mixture of TiC and Ti₅Si₃ phases which have a different indentation size effect. The influence of the sintering temperature on the Ti-SiC composite structure and properties is defined. The effect of the Ti₃SiC₂ MAX phase grain growth was found at a sintering temperature of 1400–1450 °C. The indentation size effect at the nanoscale for Ti₃SiC₂, TiC+Ti₅Si₃ and SiC-Ti phases is analyzed on the basis of the strain gradient plasticity theory and the equation constants were defined.

The focus of this paper is on examining the mechanical behavior of spark plasma sintered WC-Co based composites doped with Cr₃C₂, TaC-NbC, TiC, and VC, as well as defining some parameters characterizing deformation and fracture processes during hardness measurement. The calculated microhardness of WC-Co cemented carbides for all the studied compositions is found to be higher than the results obtained during hardness testing. Therefore, the ratio of the experimental and calculated values of microhardness is shown to be an approximate indication of WC-Co cemented carbide sensitivity to damage processes during indentation. Some parameters characterizing the microstructure–microhardness relationship are defined, and the nanomechanical properties of WC-Co cemented carbide phases are examined in order to separate the deformation and fracture processes during the indentation process. Strain gradient linear function parameters are calculated for 10-cycle nanoindentation. It was found that the nanoindentation curve after 10 cycles shows anomalous behavior of the WC grains, which indicates their fracture processes.