Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Individual Phases Formed in Sintered Tungsten-Steel Composites

Tungsten is a prime candidate material for plasma facing components in fusion devices, thanks to its advantageous properties with respect to interaction with hot plasma. For its bonding to the supporting structure, composites and graded layers can be used for the reduction of stress concentration at the interface. When tungsten and steel are processed at elevated temperatures, e.g. hot pressing or spark plasma sintering, intermetallic phases may form and their presence and properties will affect the properties of the composite. In this work, mechanical and thermal properties of the individual phases, i.e. steel, tungsten and Fe-W intermetallics are investigated. Mechanical properties were determined by instrumented indentation. Thermal conductivity was determined by the xenon flash method on a range of samples with varying composition, from which the conductivities of each constituent were estimated. The results can be used for the optimization of compositional profiles and processing conditions for manufacturing of plasma facing components.