Preparation of fine grain tungsten heavy alloy with high properties by mechanical alloying and yttrium oxide addition

In this paper, microstructure and mechanical properties of yttrium oxide dispersed 90W–7Ni–3Fe (in wt%) alloy were studied. The 90W–7Ni–3Fe nano-crystalline composite powder dispersed with Y2O3 addition was first fabricated by the mechanical alloying (MA) process, the powder was then pressed and sintered at 1480 °C for 30 min. A fine-grained 90W–7Ni–3Fe alloy with high tensile strength and elongation properties was obtained, in which the tungsten grain size was 8–12 μm, the maximum tensile strength was 1050 MPa and the elongation was 30%. The influences of rare earth oxide Y2O3 on mechanical properties and microstructure characteristics are discussed in detail.