Consolidation and microstructures of microwave sintered W-25Cu alloys with Fe addition

Abstract

W-25Cu alloys were microwave sintered in a 2.45 GHz multimode applicator. The densification, microstructure and their dependence on sintering mode and Fe addition were investigated in detail. Owing to the volumetric heating intrinsic in microwave processing, a microstructure with larger W grain size in center regions was observed as against larger grain size in edge regions for conventional sintering. Microwave sintering demonstrates its intrinsic advantages such as rapid heating rate, densification enhancement and microstructural homogeneity; but it undesirably promotes W grain growth. Under microwave sintering, the role of Fe addition on compact consolidation is not so substantial as under conventional sintering. Moreover Fe degrades the microstructural quality, generating worse uniformity and coarser W grains.

Keywords

W-Cu alloy / microwave sintering / consolidation / microstructure / Fe addition

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