We have already developed a new WC-Co base cemented carbides with highly oriented plate-like triangular prismatic WC grains by using W+C+Co base mixed powder instead of usual WC+Co base mixed powder, and then proposed the mechanism for the generation of such WC grains.
In this report, the results on the effects of the starting-powder size and ball-milling time on the orientation degree of plate-like WC grains were mainly described. The orientation degree of plate-like WC grains became larger in the cases of coarser W and finer Co powders, and longer ball-milling of W, C and Co. These results could be explained, based on our previously proposed mechanism for the generation of highly oriented plate-like WC grains.