Two component tungsten powder injection molding - An effective mass production process

Tungsten and tungsten-alloys are presently considered to be the most promising materials for plasma facing components for future fusion power plants. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) divertor design concept for the future DEMO power plant is based on modular He-cooled finger units and the development of suitable mass production methods for such parts was needed. A time and cost effective near-net-shape forming process with the advantage of shape complexity, material utilization and high final density is Powder Injection Molding (PIM). This process allows also the joining of two different materials e.g. tungsten with a doped tungsten alloy, without brazing. The complete technological process of 2-Component powder injection molding for tungsten materials and its application on producing real DEMO divertor parts, characterization results of the finished parts e.g. microstructure, hardness, density and joining zone quality are discussed in this contribution. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.