The effect of sintering activator on the erosion behavior of infiltrated W-10wt%Cu composite

In this paper, the erosion mechanism of infiltrated W-10wt%Cu composites against liquid alumina particles as well as the effect of sintering activators was studied. The fabrication of samples consists of infiltration of copper into sintered porous tungsten skeleton in presence of activators such as Ni and Co. Ni and Co was used as solid state sintering activators. The erosion of prepared specimens observed after the static firing and explained in terms of microstructure, transpiration cooling and erosion mechanism. Chemical analysis of the material after erosion test was obtained using energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS). SEM images were employed to identify the microstructure evolution due to erosion. The obtained results show that Composite prepared by Ni additive show about 33% better erosion resistance compare to specimen without additive. Also, presence of sintering activator could enhance transpiration cooling mechanism during erosion. These results discussed based on hardness, contiguity and connectivity.