Effect of rare earth elements on the consolidation behavior and microstructure of tungsten alloys

•Y doping is beneficial to achieve fully dense tungsten alloys as compared with Y2O3 doping and La doping.•Y doping is more effective in inhibiting the grain growth of tungsten than Y2O3 doping and La doping.•The effect of different rare earth elements on the sinterability of tungsten alloys are investigated and compared.

The effects of rare earth elements (Y2O3, Y and La) on the consolidation behavior, microstructure and mechanical properties of tungsten alloys were investigated in this work. The starting powders were mechanical alloyed (MA) and then consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). It was found that Y doping was beneficial to obtain fully dense tungsten alloys with more refined grains as compared to any other rare earth elements. The maximum values of Vickers microhardness and bending strength obtained from W–0.5 wt.% Y alloy reached up to 614.4 HV0.2 and 701.0 MPa, respectively.

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