Carbon Content

The carbon content of a WC powder is commonly stated as total carbon and free carbon (uncombined carbon present as graphite or amorphous carbon). The difference between these values accounts for the combined carbon (chemically bound as carbide).
The total carbon content should be theoretically 6.13 wt% carbon, which means that all carbon is chemically combined as WC. However, in practice, a small amount of uncombined carbon is always present (some hundredths of percent).

The proper total carbon depends on further processing of the powder (compact) and is dictated by the hardmetal producer, due to its processing experience (carburizing, neutral, or decarburizing conditions).

The determination method is described in ISO 3907 and ISO 3908 and should result in standard deviation of no more than +0.01 wt%.

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