Development of oxide dispersion strengthened W alloys produced by hot isostatic pressing

A powder metallurgy technique has been developed to produce oxide strengthened W-Ti and W-V alloys using elemental powders and nanosized powders of La(2)O(3) or Y(2)O(3) as starting materials. The alloys consolidated by hot isostatic pressing resulted in high-density materials having an ultrafine-grained structure and microhardness values in the range 7-13 GPa. Atom force microscopy studies show a topographic relief in the Ti and V pools that appear in the consolidated alloys. This relief is attributed to the heterogeneous nucleation of martensite plates. The preliminary transmission electron microscopy studies have revealed that a dispersion of nanoparticles can be induced in these alloys produced via the present technique. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.