Thermal shock behavior of fine grained W-Y2O3 materials fabricated via two different manufacturing technologies

Thermal shock resistance of fine grained W-Y2O3 materials fabricated by two different manufacturing technologies (i.e. spark plasma sintering and high temperature sintering in combination with hot rolling deformation) was examined under transient high heat loads below and slightly above the melting threshold of pure tungsten. The tests were performed with the electron beam test facility EMS-60 at Southwestern Institute of Physics, China. The comparison of the thermal shock response in this work showed that the deformed W-Y2O3 performed a superior behavior to spark plasma sintered W-Y2O3 in suppressing the crack formation, melting resistance and recrystallization resistance. The thermo-physical properties and mechanical characterizations necessary for understanding the thermal shock response of these materials were also presented and discussed.