Recovery of constituents from carbide cutting tool scraps by pyrometallurgical method

In nowadays, the approaches for recovering of WC and Co materials are not only economically important but also ecologically significant due to the environmental factors. In the world, the one third of the consumption of WC in cutting tools is being produced from their scraps. In recent years, a new technique for recovering of WC and Co using melted zinc (Zn) bath has been studied from hard cutting tool scraps. This case will make possible to recycle economically and environmentally the hard cutting tools, in contrast to acid leaching and evaporation methods. In this study, it was investigated to recycle the WC-Co scraps with melted zinc process. Co was dissoluted in melted zinc bath at different temperatures (700, 750 and 800°C) and different times (1, 2 and 3 h), and then WC and Co powders were recovered after evaporation of zinc at 1000°C. The powders produced were analyzed with SEM-EDX and XRD analysis.