Sintering of nano- and ultradispersed mechanically activated W-Ni-Fe powders and the manufacture of ultrahigh-strength heavy tungsten alloys

The structure and mechanical properties of nano- and ultradispersed mechanically activated heavy W-Ni-Fe and W-Ni-Fe-Co tungsten alloys (VNZh and VNZhK alloys, respectively) are studied. Mechanically activated nano- and ultradispersed charge powders are sintered by free sintering (thermally activated) and spark plasma sintering. The dependence of the density of the alloys made of the mechanically activated powders on the sintering temperature is found to have a nonmonotonic character with a maximum corresponding to the optimum sintering temperature. It is shown that an increase in the mechanical activation time and the acceleration of the milling bodies during mechanical activation lead to a decrease in the alloy particle size and the formation of nonequilibrium solid solutions and are accompanied by a decrease in the optimum sintering temperature of heavy tungsten alloys. Ultrahigh-strength tungsten alloys the mechanical properties of which are substantially higher than those of standard coarse-grained analogs are fabricated due to the optimization of the conditions of ball milling and high-rate spark plasma sintering of W-Ni-Fe powders.