| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Composite Materials for Nuclear Applications III
|
| Presentation Title |
Thermal stability of powder metallurgically manufactured tungsten fiber-reinforced tungsten composites at 1450 °C |
| Author(s) |
Svitlana Rudchenko, Yiran Mao, Wolfgang Pantleon |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Wolfgang Pantleon |
| Abstract Scope |
Tungsten fiber-reinforced tungsten composites are considered as plasma-facing material in future fusion reactors. Such composites are obtained by powder metallurgy: potassium-doped, drawn tungsten wires are blended with tungsten powders and consolidated by field assisted sintering. Different composites are investigated with continuous or short tungsten fibers and dense or porous tungsten matrix, respectively. Specimens are annealed at 1450 °C up to two weeks to assess their thermal stability. Scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction reveal major changes in the microstructure. Already after three days, all fibers have recrystallized and the matrix coarsened by grain growth. While fibers can still be identified after the first week, matrix and fiber cannot be distinguished any longer in a dense matrix, despite an yttria interlayer introduced for avoiding potential intergrowth. Large recrystallized grains in the fibers do not continue to grow into a porous matrix, while the latter disintegrates by particle coarsening. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Composites, Nuclear Materials, Characterization |