Basic characterization of oxide dispersion strengthened fine-grained tungsten based materials fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering

Abstract Fine grained oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) W based materials with grain size from the sub-micron range to several microns have been fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. The emphasis is put on the effect of alloying elements on the microstructure, basic mechanical properties and transient high heat loading performance. The micro-hardness of the fabricated ODS-W based materials are between 400 HV and 1050 HV, while the bending strength are between 700 MPa and 1300 MPa. The addition of a small amount of Ti will promote the densification and decrease the grain size of W–Y2O3 composite significantly, while the addition of Mo shows less function. However, the Mo alloyed ODS-W sample shows a much better transient high heat loading performance than the Ti alloyed ODS-W sample.