Tungsten powder from carbon coated WO3 precursors

This paper deals with the formation of tungsten powder from carbon coated tungstic oxide precursors. This study makes use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). TGA data allowed for calculation of the activation energy as 626 ± 18.2 kJ/mol. XRD characterized the products resulting from the reaction of the carbon coated WO3 for each isotherm. These diffraction patterns support the hypothesis that reduction to W proceeds through the formation of lower oxidation states. This is the first isolation of a metal powder using the carbon coated precursor process.