Potentiodynamic Polarization Behavior and Microscopic Examination of Tungsten Carbide Hard Metal Materials in Supported Ammoniacal Medium

Electrochemical methods for the recycling of tungsten carbide (WC-10Co) resources suffer from passivation in the acidic medium caused by WO3 and also in NaOH electrolytes, due to hydroxide formation. We found that an ammoniacal solution is apromising electrolyte for sustainable electrochemical dissolution of both tungsten (W)and cobalt (Co). The ammoniacal medium performs greatly when supported with Cl-,SO42- and CO32- ions. Poor dissolution/corrosion tendency of WC-10Co in a dilutedNH4OH solution enhanced many folds in the presence of Cl-, SO42- and CO32- ions.Among these supporting ions, Cl- emerged as the most suitable for the electrochemical leaching of W and Co from the WC-10Co, accompanying the least noble behavior of WC-10Co. An electrolyte composed of 150 g/L of ammonia and 5% (w/v) of NH4Cl yielded the maximum anodic current density. Microscopic examination of the electrochemically treated samples shows scattered active sites responsible for the oxidative dissolution of WC-10Co. The usefulness of W and Co dissolution in ammonia-additive salt followed the order NH4OH-NH4Cl>NH4OH-(NH4)2SO4>NH4OH-(NH4)2CO3..