What is tungsten carbide?

What is tungsten carbide?  

Usually in thermal spraying, the term "tungsten carbide" is used to describe any material based on tungsten carbide, but it is actually composed of tungsten carbide itself in a metal binder matrix.  In fact, pure tungsten carbide (WC) is a ceramic material.  It is an industrial production method by refining tungsten ore into oxide or pure tungsten metal, and then carburizing it to produce tungsten carbide.  After classifying tungsten carbide used in thermal spray, powder sizes typically range from submicrons to several microns.  
 
The properties of tungsten carbide  
This material has special properties.  The density of tungsten carbide is 15.63 g/cm3, and the hardness of tungsten carbide is 25 ~ 30 GPa(about 2600 ~ 3000 HV).  It also has a very high modulus of strength, which makes it an exceptionally strong ceramic material, harder and denser than steel.  However, pure WC cannot be used for actual components or coatings.  By combining micron-sized tungsten carbide particles with binder metals such as cobalt, nickel, chromium and/or other alloys, a ceramic-metal composite is formed, which is suitable for thermal spraying.