Sintering and Cold Swaging of Tungsten Heavy Alloys Prepared from Various Grades of W Powder

In the present work, sintering and cold swaging of 92.5W–5.25Ni–2.25Fe heavy alloys prepared from various grades of W powder were investigated. The mean particle sizes of the W powder grades were 3.4 µm, 10.5 µm, and 28.0 µm. It was observed that linear shrinkage decreased with increasing W particle size. The sintering behavior of the alloys was discussed in terms of liquid capillarity and W particle size. The alloy prepared from the 28.0-µm grade W powder exhibited incomplete densification. This alloy could not be swaged because of the poor mechanical properties. The alloys of the other grades were fully densified. They exhibited better ductility and swageability. The alloy of the 10.5-µm grade W powder had good mechanical properties (e.g., tensile strength 1300 MPa, hardness 38 HRC after 10% cold swaging) that were equivalent to those of the alloy of the fine-grade W powder (3.4 µm).