Interaction of iron melt with tungsten and WFe composite structure evolution

Abstract

Development of new plasma facing components (PFC) draw attention of numerous scientific groups in fusion energy field. Tungsten as a main PFC material main have poor machinability, thus various designs were proposed to overcome this problem. However, such technologies as functional graded layers, sintering and additive technologies are limited in production size and have low cost-efficiency. This research considers the alternative approach of steel melt injection or melt infiltration of tungsten mesh. The results obtained establish the mechanism of phase evolution during interaction of solid W with liquid steel and iron. Energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Thermocalc calculations used to analyze the phase composition of tungsten wetted with various steels and pure iron. Results show that interaction rate significantly depends on melt temperature and overheating above its liquidus. Then the overheating exceeds 150 °C erosion of tungsten occur.

Keywords

• iron
• steel
• tungsten
• composite
• melting
• wetting