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Particulate-Reinforced Tungsten Heavy Alloy/Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Composites Sintered Through Spark Plasma Sintering

  • Research Article-Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

The current work investigates the mechanical properties of W–Ni–Fe tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) composites reinforced with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 wt% of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). The composites were fabricated through spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Detailed microstructural characterization of the sintered samples, including contiguity, grain size and matrix volume fraction, was carried out. It was found that the W–W contiguity was decreasing with increasing amount of YSZ. Hardness and yield strength of the sintered samples were found to be decreasing with the increasing amount of YSZ. The WHA with 0.25 wt% YSZ exhibited the highest mechanical properties among all compositions chosen for this study. Fractography revealed W–W intergranular fracture indicating a brittle mode failure.

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Abbreviations

WHA:

Tungsten heavy alloy

YSZ:

Yttria-stabilized zirconia

Y2O3 :

Yttrium oxide

WC:

Tungsten carbide

SiC:

Silicon carbide

La2O3 :

Lanthanum oxide

HfO2 :

Hafnium dioxide

TiO2 :

Titanium dioxide

ZrO2 :

Zirconium dioxide

ZrC:

Zirconium carbide

Sc2O3 :

Scandium oxide

SPS:

Spark plasma sintering

BN:

Boron nitride

EDS:

Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

UTS:

Ultimate tensile strength

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the RGEMS SEED Grant from the Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India, for the partial funding of this work. The use of facilities available at VIT Vellore provided by Department of Science and Technology—India is duly acknowledged for the successful completion of this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Manufacturing Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, VIT Vellore, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632 014, India

    A. Muthuchamy, Lakshmi Prasad Boggupalli & Digvijay Rajendra Yadav

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vignan‘s Institute of Information Technology (Autonomous), Besides VSEZ, Duvvada, Vadlapudi Post, Visakhapatnam, 530049, India

    N. Naveen Kumar

  3. Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Dinesh K Agrawal

  4. Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Research, VIT Vellore, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632 014, India

    A. Raja Annamalai

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  1. A. Muthuchamy
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Correspondence to A. Raja Annamalai.

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Muthuchamy, A., Boggupalli, L.P., Yadav, D.R. et al. Particulate-Reinforced Tungsten Heavy Alloy/Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Composites Sintered Through Spark Plasma Sintering. Arab J Sci Eng 45, 9283–9291 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-04732-y

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