Tungsten hemicarbide W 2 C with no or small amounts of W or WC was prepared by reaction-sintering from W and WC powders using a resistance-heated hot-pressing technique called spark plasma sintering. The product phases, density, microstructure, elastic moduli, hardness, and fracture toughness of the sintered bodies were determined. The stable region of the W 2 C phase had a narrow carbon content below 1860 C. W 2 C had a Poisson's ratio of 0.286, and its Young's modulus at zero porosity was determined to be 444 GPa from the true density and bulk density dependence. These values suggest that W 2 C has elastic deformation behavior similar to that of W.