High Purity Tungsten Spherical Particle Preparation From WC-Co Spent Hard Scrap

Tungsten carbide-cobalt hard metal scrap was recycled to obtain high purity spherical tungsten powder by a combined hydrometallurgy and physical metallurgy pathway. Selective leaching of tungsten element from hard metal scrap occurs at solid / liquid interface and therefore enlargement of effective surface area is advantageous. Linear oxidation behavior of Tungsten carbide-cobalt and the oxidized scrap is friable to be pulverized by milling process. In this regard, isothermally oxidized Tungsten carbide-cobalt hard metal scrap was mechanically broken into particles and then tungsten trioxide particle was recovered by hydrometallurgical method. Recovered tungsten trioxide was reduced to tungsten particle in a hydrogen environment. After that, tungsten particle was melted and solidified to make a spherical one by RF (Ratio Frequency) thermal plasma process. Well spherical tungsten micro-particle was successfully obtained from spent scrap. In addition to the morphological change, thermal plasma process showed an advantage for the purification of feedstock particle.