The recrystallization of commercially pure and doped tungsten wire drawn to high strain

Abstract

The recrystallization processes in both undoped and doped tungsten wire after drawing to a true strain of 7.7 were examined by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. High angle grain boundary migration commenced at approximately the same temperature in both materials, but proceeded much more rapidly in the undoped wire, where the absence of a potassium bubble dispersion allowed a coarser, more equiaxed grain structure to form. No change from the (110) deformation texture was observed in either case. Recrystallization in the undoped wire was dominated at lower temperatures (1100 to 1200°C) by the growth of large grains into a much finer structure. As the annealing temperature was increased, this process was replaced by a general grain coarsening which eventually produced a relatively equiaxed recrystallized grain structure. It appeared probable that it was the second phase dispersion inhibition alone that prevented similar structural changes in the doped wire.