Characterization of novel W alloys produced by HIP

W and W alloys containing 0.5 Wt% Y(2)O(3), x wt% Ti and (x wt% Ti + 0.5 Wt% Y(2)O(3)) have been prepared, x = 2 or 4. Elemental powders were blended or ball milled, canned, degassed and finally consolidated by a two-stage HIP process under a pressure of 195 MPa. It is found that Ti addition favours the densification attaining a fully dense material. XRD, SEM and EDX analyses of the material with Ti addition reveal the formation of a microstructure consisting of tungsten particles embedded in a W-Ti matrix. The microhardness of these materials increased noticeably with the titanium content. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.