Investigation on W/Fe diffusion bonding using Ti foil and Ti powder interlayer by SPS

W/steel composites are being developed for potential application in He gas-cooled divertors and plasma-facing components in fusion reactors. In this study, the dissimilar metal joints between W and Fe were fabricated at 950 °C via spark plasma sintering method with Ti foil (Ti-F) and Ti powder (Ti-P) as the interlayer under Ar atmosphere for 5 min at 57 MPa. Microscopic structures of the W/Fe diffusion joints with Ti-F and Ti-P were investigated and compared via field-emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Thermal cycling tests were employed to measure the thermal stability of different types of W/Ti/Fe samples. The hardness distribution across joining interfaces was also determined. After thermal cycling tests, a crack occurred along the W/Ti-P interface in the W/Ti-P/Fe samples, whereas the W/Ti-F/Fe samples were intact at the interfaces. Results revealed that Ti-F is more suitable as an interlayer than Ti-P, and the interfaces of the W/Ti-F/Fe samples have better thermal stability than those of the W/Ti-P/Fe ones.