Extraordinary high ductility/strength of the interface designed bulk W-ZrC alloy plate at relatively low temperature

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 16014
• Main Authors: Xie, Z. M., Liu, R., Miao, S., Yang, X. D., Zhang, T., Wang, X. P., Fang, Q. F., Liu, C. S., Luo, G. N., Lian, Y. Y., Liu, X.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04.11.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/1023/1026; 639/301/1023/303; Alloys; Ductility; Elongation; Humanities and Social Sciences; Interfaces; Low temperature; multidisciplinary; Plasticity; Science; Temperature effects; Tensile strength; Transition temperatures; Tungsten
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep16014

The refractory tungsten alloys with high ductility/strength/plasticity are highly desirable for a wide range of critical applications. Here we report an interface design strategy that achieves 8.5 mm thick W-0.5 wt. %ZrC alloy plates with a flexural strength of 2.5 GPa and a strain of 3% at room temperature (RT) and ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of about 100 °C. The tensile strength is about 991 MPa at RT and 582 MPa at 500 °C, as well as total elongation is about 1.1% at RT and as large as 41% at 500 °C, respectively. In addition, the W-ZrC alloy plate can sustain 3.3 MJ/m 2 thermal load without any cracks. This processing route offers the special coherent interfaces of grain/phase boundaries (GB/PBs) and the diminishing O impurity at GBs, which significantly strengthens GB/PBs and thereby enhances the ductility/strength/plasticity of W alloy. The design thought can be used in the future to prepare new alloys with higher ductility/strength.