Abstract

Nanostructured(NS) W-Cu composite powders of about 20~30 nm grain size were synthesized by mechanical alloying. The properties of NS W-Cu powder and its sintering behavior were investigated. It was shown from X-ray diffraction and TEM analysis that the supersaturated solid solution of Cu in W was not formed by the mechanical alloying of mixed elemental powders, but the mixture of W and Cu particles with nanosize grains, i.e., the nanocomposite powder was attained. Nanocomposite W-20wt%Cu and W-30wt%Cu powders milled for 100 h were sintered to the relative density more than 96% and 98%, respectively, by sintering at 1100°C for 1 h in H_2. Such a high sinterability was attributed to the high homogeneous mixing and ultra-fine structure of W and Cu phases as well as activated sintering effect by impurity metal introduced during milling.