Obtaining microdispersed iron-nickel powder in the process of electrochemical processing of VNZh type heavy tungsten alloys

The process of electrochemical processing of the VNZh type heavy tungsten alloy (wt. %: 80 W, 16 Ni, 4 Fe) under the action of direct and alternating current of industrial frequency in an ammonia-alkaline solution has been investigated. It was found, that the process is accompanied by the transition of tungsten from the alloy to the solution and the formation of a microdispersed powder, based on iron and nickel.

Powder Metallurgical Processing and Characterization of Molybdenum Addition to Tungsten Heavy Alloys by Spark Plasma Sintering

The effect of adding molybdenum to the heavy tungsten alloy of W-Ni-Fe on its material characteristics was examined in the current study. The elemental powders of tungsten, iron, nickel, and molybdenum, with a composition analogous to W-3Fe-7Ni-xMo (x = 0, 22.5, 45, 67.5 wt.%), were fabricated using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique at a sintering temperature of 1400 °C and under pressure of 50 MPa. The sintered samples were subjected to microstructural characterization and tested for mechanical strength. The smallest grain size of 9.99 microns was observed for the 45W-45Mo alloy. This alloy also gave the highest tensile and yield strengths of 1140 MPa and 763 MPa, respectively. The hardness increased with the increased addition of molybdenum. The high level of hardness was observed for 67.5Mo with a 10.8% increase in the base alloy’s hardness. The investigation resulted in the alloy of 45W-7Ni-3Fe-45Mo, observed to provide optimum mechanical properties among all the analyzed samples.