Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences

Abstract

Tungsten heavy alloys comprising tungsten, nickel and ferrous were modified, where molybdenum was added in varying weight proportions keeping the ratio of Ni: Fe (8:2) constant. The powders were mixed in a high-energy ball mill and were further fabricated using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method at a peak temperature of 1000°C with heating rate of 100°C/min. The details of the microstructure and mechanical properties of these various alloy compositions were studied. With the increasing weight composition of the Mo in the alloy, the relative density of the alloy increased with a significant improvement in all the mechanical properties. The yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and hardness improved significantly with increase in the proportion of Mo; however, a reduction in elongation percentage was observed. The maximum strength of 1250 MPa UTS was observed in the alloy with a Mo proportion of 24%. The heavy alloy unmixed with Mo has shown distinct white and grey regions, where white (W) grain is due to tungsten and grey region is a combinatorial effect of Ni and Fe. Upon addition of Mo, the white and gray phase differences started to minimize resulting in deep gray and black 'C'-phase structures because of homogenization of the alloy. The main fracture mode found during this investigation in the alloys was inter-granular mode.