Enhancement of densification and sintering behavior of tungsten material via nano modification and magnetic mixing processed under spark plasma sintering

In the present study, the influence of nano additives (Ni, Fe) and different mixing (turbular and magnetic) on the densification, microstructure and micro-hardness of the tungsten material under spark plasma sintering is analyzed. After turbulent mixing the nanoparticles are distributed widely in the W interparticle gaps but after magnetic mixing the nanoparticles are distributed not only on the gaps of the W particles but also on the broken surfaces. Ni incorporated tungsten materials achieved the maximum density of 98.3% at 1400 °C (turbular mixing) and 97.9% at 1300 °C (magnetic mixing). Fe incorporated tungsten material showed density of 97.7% at 1600 °C and 97.2% at 1400 °C after turbular and magnetic mixing. The influence of nanoparticles in the densification process was explained by Laplace force, boundary slip and Agte-Vacek effect. The microstructural analysis showed that nano-modification reduced the degree of porosity, and provides a compact material at low temperatures. X-ray fluorescence analysis reveals that magnetic mixing shows more uniform distribution of nanoparticles than turbular mixing. The nanoparticles incorporation increased the micro hardness of tungsten material. Hence, it is clear that magnetic mixing and nano modification greatly improved the densification and sintering behavior of the tungsten material.