Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
6c1c6e37-c232-460d-ba31-bc8debce6879
Materials
Associated ID
c20c0fa8-177a-4d2e-9258-241d8cd8f8df
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
This dataset represents a product that is tungsten carbide powder, a high-density, ultra-hard cermet powder with high hardness, excellent wear resistance and good high-temperature stability, whose particle morphology and particle-size distribution can be regulated according to application requirements. In the industrial chain, the key upstream raw materials are mainly high-purity tungsten compounds such as tungsten concentrate and ammonium paratungstate, as well as carbon sources such as carbon black, graphite or hydrocarbon gases, and the downstream is widely used in manufacturing cutting tools, mine drilling tools, wear-resistant components and precision moulds, and as a hard coating material for thermal spraying and vapour deposition, as well as a composite-material matrix for high-performance structural parts. The system boundary includes processes directly related to product production, such as raw-material pretreatment, batching, hydrogen reduction to produce tungsten powder, carbonization reaction, crushing and ball milling, classification and screening, drying and finished-product packaging, as well as environmental supporting processes such as tail-gas purification and dust recovery during production, covering the consumption of main raw and auxiliary materials, energy consumption, and the generation and disposal of solid and gaseous wastes; it explicitly excludes raw-material mining and beneficiation, long-distance transport of raw materials and products, production-equipment manufacturing, and plant and utility infrastructure construction. The dataset includes the main raw and auxiliary materials, energy and wastes in the production process; infrastructure such as the manufacture of production equipment and plant construction is not included within the boundary of the dataset; the data inventory is formed by merging data from multiple sources.
Activity Description
Tungsten carbide powder production uses tungsten concentrate or tungsten-containing compounds such as ammonium paratungstate as raw materials. Hydrogen or carbonaceous reducing agents are used to complete the reduction of tungsten under specific conditions and further carbonize it to generate WC. The main inputs include tungsten sources, carbon sources, reducing gases and auxiliary energy. The outputs are tungsten carbide powder of different specifications and a small amount of dust-containing waste gas. Waste residue; the process flow includes raw material pretreatment and batching, hydrogen reduction to prepare tungsten powder, tungsten powder carbonization reaction, crushing and ball milling, classification and screening, drying and impurity removal, and finished product packaging. Some companies also have surface treatment or batch homogenization processes, which are accompanied by exhaust gas purification and dust recovery links to control environmental impact.
Process Description
Tungsten carbide powder is a dark gray or black powder material with metallic luster. The crystal form is hexagonal crystal, the hardness is close to diamond, and it has excellent wear resistance and high hardness properties. Its melting point is about 2870°C, its boiling point is about 6000°C, its relative density is about 15.6, and it has good electrical and thermal conductivity properties. Tungsten carbide powder is insoluble in water, hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, but soluble in nitric acid-hydrofluoric acid mixture, and its chemical properties are relatively stable. Pure tungsten carbide is relatively fragile, and elements such as cobalt, titanium, and tantalum carbide are usually added to improve its toughness and impact resistance. As the main raw material for the production of cemented carbide, tungsten carbide powder is widely used in the manufacture of cutting tools, wear-resistant parts and engineering materials.
Time period
2021
2026
Geography
China
Geography comment
Generated by merging multiple data sets in this geographical location.
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
The preparation process of tungsten carbide powder: first weigh the tungsten powder and carbon powder, put them into a ball mill, mix and ball mill for 2 to 4 hours to make them fully uniform. After the mixture is loaded into a graphite boat, it enters a horizontal carbon tube resistance furnace, a vertical medium frequency carbonization furnace or a fully automatic molybdenum wire carbonization furnace for carbonization under hydrogen protection. The block materials obtained after carbonization are sent into a ball mill lined with carbide in batches of 200-400kg for crushing. The crushed materials are screened to obtain tungsten carbide powder.