Microwave sintering of W-18Cu and W-7Ni-3Cu alloys

Microwave processing is emerging as an innovative and highly effective material processing method offering many advantages over conventional methods, especially for sintering applications. It is recognized for its various advantages, such as: time and energy saving, rapid heating rates, considerably reduced processing cycle time and temperature, fine microstructures and improved mechanical properties which lead to better product performance. Major constraints in conventional sintering of refractory material such as tungsten and its alloys are high sintering temperatures and long soaking times which cause abnormal grain growth and lead to poor mechanical properties. They get further aggravated at smaller (submicron and nano) tungsten powder sizes. This study describes recent research findings; W-18Cu and W-7Ni-3Cu alloys have been successfully consolidated using microwave heating which resulted in an overall reduction of sintering time of up to 80%. The microwave sintered samples exhibited finer microstructure and superior mechanical properties when compared with the conventional samples.