ABSTRAKT

With the aid of the quantum-mechanical computer simulation (the theory of the electron density functional and the method of pseudo-potential) the mechanical characteristics of nanosized cobalt interlayers between tungsten carbide crystallites were investigated. It is shown that with a decrease in the cobalt interlayer thickness to nanoscale dimensions its transverse rupture strength doubles, but, on the other hand, the shear modulus undergoes a sixfold decrease. The strength of the interlayers in this case can be 3−4 times higher than the strength of solid cobalt.