Fabrication of W-12wt%Cu Composites by Powder Metallurgy Method: Activated Sintering

One of the most challenging areas in engineering of composite materials is the fabrication of high quality microstructures. This issue is complicated for tungsten composites due to its high melting temperature and this leads to limitations in terms of possible processing techniques. This research investigates the fabrication of W-12%wtCu composites based on powder metallurgy techniques. Due to the very large difference between the melting point of tungsten and copper, there is no common sintering temperature range for them. In this work, 0.5%Wt nickel was added as an activator to decrease the sintering temperature of tungsten using an activated sintering effect. The effects of pressure, sintering time and temperature in solid state and liquid phase conditions were also investigated. While solid state hot pressing did not result in appropriate microstructures, the liquid phase hot pressing provided high quality samples with a relative density of 98.0%.