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 La2O3 or Y2O3 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.