Mutual relationship between material removal rate and W-W interfacial features during ultra-high temperature erosion of infiltrated W-10wt.%Cu composite

Abstract

It is tried in this study to find relation between erosion behavior at ultra-high temperature and W-W and W-Cu interfacial strength in infiltrated W-Cu composites. For this purpose, W-10wt.%Cu composites were fabricated by compacting tungsten powder at 180–200 MPa, sintering and infiltration rout. Erosion of composites carried out at 3000 °C under high velocity impact of alumina droplets. The obtained results show there is an indirect relation between erosion rate and hardness. Also composite with higher cold tensile strength exhibited higher erosion loss. Based on microstructural study, lower sintering temperatures led to lower copper strengthening effect after infiltration that finally, resulted into higher erosion resistance during erosion. These results suggested that instead of cold tensile strength, tensile strength difference between 25 and 700 °C had main role in determining erosion manner of composite. Based on relation between erosion behavior and fracture mode in composites, addition of sintering activators has a positive effect on erosion resistance. These elements improve W-W interfacial strength and diminish some factors affecting W-W interfacial weakness. The obtained results in this study provide a comprehensive understanding about correlation between erosion manner and microstructural features in infiltrated W-10wt.%Cu composite for aerospace applications.