**6. Previous work on fabrication of tungsten carbide-cobalt-based composite**

In the literature, various methods have been introduced such as coating, MQL, cryogenics, microwave heating, and high-pressure coolant cutting to improve the performance of various cutting tools.

Arshi [24] have studied to improve surface roughness, tool life and production rate of materials by using a protective covering of titanium nitride (TiN) over steel tools. They have obtained satisfactory results. Huang et al. [25] manufactured WC powder was prepared by the SPS process at 1873K, 8 min, 60 MPa pressure without the addition of any binder phase. Results obtained that binderless WC sintered at 1773 K for 4 min showed almost full densification with a relative density of 99.6% and higher Vickers hardness up to 2600 HV, compare to conventional WC-Co cemented carbides. Yuchi et al. [26] investigated fully dense GNS/Al2O3 composites fabricated

#### *Graphene Composite Cutting Tool for Conventional Machining DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105136*

from ball-milled and then expanded in a graphite die by using SPS. The result showed that conductivity increased when composite has 15% GNSs volume which was 170% higher than CNT/Al2O3 composites. Virendra et al. [27] studied graphenebased materials' impact on electronic devices, chemical sensors, nano-composites and energy storage. Various synthesis processes of single-layer graphene, graphene nano-ribbons, chemically derived graphene, and graphene-based polymer and nanoparticle composites are reviewed. Prashantha et al. [28] have shown that graphene has noble mechanical properties, which makes it good alternative reinforcement in metal matrix composite. He has also focused on various dispersion methods, mechanisms of strengthening, composites synthesized using graphene, and their applications.

Meanwhile Bashirvand and Montazeri [29] made metal-based composite supported with carbon nanofiller such as graphene sheets and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were proposed to join the properties of metals. These nanofillers have prompted novel materials for different applications. The outcomes showed that under the same conditions, graphene sheets performed altogether better compared to CNTs to improve thermo-mechanical. Dongguo et al. [30] manufactured a cutting tool by powder injection molding (PIM) technology using 90WC-10Co alloy. The cutting tool obtained after this technology achieved a density of 95% of theoretical density and dimension accuracy achieved was 98%. T. Wejrzanowski et al. [31] introduced the advantages and limitations of applications of single-layer graphene (SLG) and multi-layer (MLG) graphene for thermal conductivity enhancement (TCE) of copper and showed that the volume fraction of multi-layer graphene, their size, distribution and orientation may significantly affect the thermal conductivity of metal matrix composites. Das et al. [32] studied that graphene attracts particular interest due to its novel properties like high thermal conductivity, high mechanical strength and self-lubricating properties etc. Ali Nasser et al. [7] used another methodology for stabilizing a predesigned Co gradient in the microstructure of nano-WC-Co thinning structure via graphene additions is presented. For this purpose, laminated specimens of green WC-Co functionally graded material, having three layers structured, with and without graphene additions in the intermediate layer were sintered at solid and liquid sintering temperatures of 1290 and 1400°C, respectively, using the hot isostatic pressing technique (HIP).

Grasso et al. [33] demonstrated the densification of high-purity nano-structured tungsten carbide by High-Pressure Spark Plasma Sintering (HPSPS) in the unusually low-temperature range of 1200–1400°C. The high-pressure sintering up to 300 MPa produced dense material at a temperature as low as 1400°C. In comparison with more conventional sintering techniques, such as SPS (80 MPa) or hot isostatic pressing, HPSPS lowered the temperature required for full densification by 400–500°C. Bódis et al. [34] prepared silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics that have superior properties in terms of wear, corrosion, oxidation, thermal shock resistance, and high-temperature mechanical behavior, as well. In this work, SiC-based ceramics mixed with 1 wt% and 3 wt% multilayer graphene (MLG), were fabricated by solid-state spark plasma sintering (SPS) at different temperatures. It was found that MLG improved the mechanical properties of SiC-based composites due to the formation of a special microstructure. In other addition of 3 wt% MLG to SiC matrix increased the Vickers hardness and Young's modulus of composite, even at a sintering temperature of 1700°C. Suna et al. [35] investigated mechanical and tribological properties of functionally graded multilayer graphene (MLG)-reinforced WC-TiC-Al2O3 ceramics prepared to employ two-step sintering (TSS) are determined in this paper. Results showed that MLG can act as not only an outstanding reinforcement phase but also

act as self-lubricant phase. As result demonstrated that 0.1wt% of MLG/WC-TiC-Al2O3 ceramics exhibit 53.3% enhancement in fracture toughness, 73.8% decrement in friction coefficient, 82.65% improvement in wear resistance in comparison with monolithic ceramics. The study of Gorti et al. [36] revealed that graphene as reinforcement could be applied in cemented carbides. WC powder with 6% cobalt (Co) and graphene (0.2%) in the form of graphene nanoplatelets (GPLs) was set up by high energy rate ball milling and ultra-sonification. After that mixture was sintered by utilizing spark plasma sintering at 1250°C for 10 min. Results found that spark plasma sintering of graphene reinforced WC-Co composite resulted in a significant increase in toughness. It gave higher hardness (400 Hv) and it makes the grain size conveyance smaller. From different studies, it is clear that the reaction of graphene is limited in spark plasma sintering (SPS) as compared to Hot isostatic processing (HIP) and Graphene goes about protective coating against oxidation.

Karthikeyan et al. [37] studied the effect of laser surface textured tungsten carbide (WC-Co) insert and filled with graphite, which helps in reducing chip adhesion during machining of aluminum AA2025 studied and the following conclusions were carried out. A tribological test was carried out to investigate the frictional behavior of untextured, textured and textured inserts filled with graphite powder. The outcome clearly showed that the coefficient of friction between work material and textured graphite filled inserts reduced approximately by 12% and 90%, respectively, when compared with untextured and textured inserts. Singh [38] proposed the near rake face cutting edge of carbide turning insert were polished and used graphene as a potential solid lubricant was applied. It was found that cutting forces and coefficient of friction at tool-chip interface diminished significantly while turning with inserts applied with graphene. It was also clear that the effect of graphene on tool-chip interface significantly decreased to almost negligible when main cutting force increased beyond 60N. Hence more sincere research and development efforts are required to make its use sustainable in machining as a solid lubricant.

Durwesh et al. [39] aimed to move toward good product quality and better productivity. We know that adverse machining conditions result in fast tool wear, a decrease in surface finish, and an increase in cutting forces. Results demonstrate that microwave-irradiated tool inserts perform better during machining of AISI 1040 steel when contrasted with uncoated inserts. The result indicated that 30.2% increase in tool hardness was observed in 30-min microwave-treated insert and tool wear was reduced by 25–35%. Chen et al. [40] presented the effect graphene and carbon nanotubes were blended with WC-Co powder and sintered by spark plasma sintering technique (SPS). The outcomes showed that adding a small amount of graphene or carbon nanotubes helped to increase the bending strength of the cemented carbide by approximately 50% while keeping the hardness of the cemented carbide constant & thermal conductivity of the cemented carbide has also increased by 10% with the addition of 0.12 wt% graphene [41]. Virendra Singh et al. [42] described that higher mechanical properties (elastic modulus and tensile strength) of graphene sheets have attracted the attention of researchers. Vandana et al. [43] investigated and talked about the addition of graphene to Al2O3 ceramic matrix and its effect on different mechanical properties of resulting alumina-graphene (Al-G) composite tool material. The wt% of graphene varied from 0.15 to 0.65 with an interval of 0.1%. The result showed that composite with 0.45 wt% of graphene yielded the maximum hardness and fracture toughness. Lagos et al. [44] introduced the changes in densification behavior and mechanical properties of Ti3SiC2 composites containing 0–40 volume % of short carbon fibers densified by Spark Plasma Sintering Technique (SPS). It was

#### *Graphene Composite Cutting Tool for Conventional Machining DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105136*

feasible to obtain fully densified composites up to 20 volume % of carbon fibers and more than 90% of the theoretical density with the 40 volume % of fibers.

Zhenhua et al. [45] examined ultrafine-grained WC-12Co-0.2VC cemented carbides prepared by using two-step spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Thus, the first-step (T1) and the second-step (T2) temperatures in the two-step SPS are 1300°C and 1200°C, respectively. He has talked about the effect of the holding time during the first and second steps on the mechanical properties of the specimen. The results showed that the UYG12V cemented carbide sintered at 1300°C for 3 min and then at 1200°C for 5 min has the best extensive mechanical properties, Vickers hardness, fracture toughness, relative density, and bending strength of 218.06 GPa, 12.25 MPa m1/2, 99.49%, and 1960 MPa, respectively. Xuchao et al. [46] chose graphene as reinforcement in Al2O3-WC-TiC composite ceramic tool materials by hot pressing technique. The optimal flexural strength, Vickers hardness, and indentation fracture toughness were 646.31 ± 20.78 MPa, 24.64 ± 0.42 GPa, 9.42 ± 0.40 MPa m1/2, respectively, at 0.5 volume % of graphene content, which was significantly improved compared to ceramic tool material without graphene. Yuchi et al. [47] studied to obtain fully dense GNS/Al2O3 composites have been fabricated from ball-milled graphite and Al2O3 by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The GNSs after ball processing are 2.5–20 nm in thickness and homogeneously dispersed in the ceramic matrix. The conductivity achieves 5709 S/m when composite has 15% volume GNS, which was 170% higher contrasted with the best outcome recently announced in CNT/Al2O3 composites. Yanju et al. [48] created ultrafine cemented carbides were set up by microwave sintering technique using WC-V8C7-Cr3C2-Co nano-composites as a raw material. The outcomes showed that the ultrafine solidified carbides arranged at 1300°C for 60 min have better mechanical properties. The relative density, Vickers hardness, and fracture toughness of the composite reach the maximum values of 99.79%, 1842 kg/mm2 and 12.6 MPa m1/2 respectively.

After studied the above literature it has observed that cutting tool made with different type of reinforcements at different manufacturing condition play a very important role on the performance of composite cutting tool. Different composite like GNS/Al2O3, CNT/Al2O3, SiC-MLG, WC-TiC-Al2O3, WC-CO-GPLs, Al-Gr, and Al2O3-WC-TiC have prepared by different consolidation techniques and they reported a beneficial influence of all these reinforcement in mechanical, densification, and thermal properties. Further, more research investigation will also be carried in future to enhance the properties, promoting the application and commercialization of improved cutting tool bit for conventional machining.
