The effect of hot isostatic pressing on thermal conductivity of additively manufactured pure tungsten

The crack-healing behaviors and microstructure evolution of pure tungsten produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) were studied and compared before and after post hot isostatic pressing (post-HIP) treatment. An average thermal conductivity of 133 W.m(-1).K-1 at room temperature (RT) was obtained after HIP, which was 16% higher than that of as-built sample (115 W.m(-1).K-1). Although the HIP process had little effect on density, it resulted in a large grain size of > 300 mu m accompanied by a decrease in dislocation density and crack healing, which led to a substantial improvement of thermal conductivity of pure tungsten. The positive correlation between relative density and thermal conductivity of as-built tungsten was reported.