Effect of reinforcement phase on the mechanical property of tungsten nanocomposite synthesized by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Nanostructured tungsten composites were fabricated by spark plasma sintering of nanostructured composite powders. The composite powders, which were synthesized by mechanical milling of tungsten and Ni-based alloy powders, are comprised of alternating layers of tungsten and metallic glass several hundred nanometers in size. The mechanical behavior of the nanostructured W composite is similar to pure tungsten, however, in contrast to monolithic pure tungsten, some macroscopic compressive plasticity accompanies the enhanced maximum strength up to 2.4GPa by introducing reinforcement. We have found that the mechanical properties of the composites strongly depend on the uniformity of the nano-grained tungsten matrix and reinforcement phase distribution.