Manufacturing of self-passivating W-Cr-Si alloys by mechanical alloying and HIP

Self-passivating tungsten-based alloys may provide a major safety advantage in comparison with pure tungsten, which is presently the main candidate material for the plasma-facing protection of future fusion power reactors. WCrSi alloys were manufactured by mechanical alloying (MA) and HIP at 1300 °C and 200 MPa for 1 h. Different MA conditions were investigated to obtain powders with lowest possible amount of contaminants and small and homogeneous particle and crystallite size. Milling in WC vials under Ar without process control agent provided best results. After HIP densities close to 100% were obtained. First oxidation tests on preliminary alloys showed self-passivating behavior with rates comparable to WCrSi thin films at 800 °C but worse performance at 1000 °C. In all cases a Cr2WO6 protective layer is formed at the surface.