Research on Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and High-Temperature Stability of Hot-Rolled Tungsten Hafnium Alloy

Abstract

W-(0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5) wt.% Hf (mass fraction, wt.%) materials were fabricated by the powder metallurgy method and hot rolling. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and high-temperature stability of alloys with varying compositions were systematically studied. The active element Hf can react with the impurity O segregated at the grain boundary to form fine dispersed HfO2 particles, refining the grains and purifies and strengthening the grain boundary. The average size of the sub-grains in the W-0.3 wt.% Hf alloy is 4.32 μm, and the number density of the in situ-formed second phase is 6.4 × 1017 m−3. The W-0.3 wt.% Hf alloy has excellent mechanical properties in all compositions of alloys. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is 1048 ± 17.02 MPa at 100 °C, the ductile fracture occurs at 150 °C, and the total elongation (TE) is 5.91 ± 0.41%. The UTS of the tensile test at 500 °C is 614 ± 7.55 MPa, and the elongation is as high as 43.77 ± 1.54%. However, more Hf addition will increase the size of the second-phase particles and reduce the number density of the second-phase particles, resulting in a decrease in the mechanical properties of the tungsten alloy. The isochronal annealing test shows that the recrystallization temperature of W-Hf alloy is 1400 °C, which is 200 °C higher than rolling pure tungsten.

Keywords

• plasma-facing materials
• hot rolling
• dispersion strengthening
• precipitation strength