The powder preparation process of tungsten-nickel-iron alloy is a fundamental step in producing the alloy, directly affecting the quality of subsequent forming, sintering and other processes, and thus determining the final performance of the alloy. Its powder preparation mainly includes raw material selection, powder mixing and powder treatment steps, with the core being to obtain mixed tungsten, nickel and iron powders with uniform particle size and stable composition.
In terms of raw material selection, tungsten powder is usually prepared by the reduction method. Using tungsten trioxide or ammonium paratungstate as raw materials, tungsten powders with different particle sizes are obtained through hydrogen reduction, with the particle size generally controlled between 1 – 10μm. Fine-grained tungsten powder helps to improve the alloy density but increases the sintering difficulty; nickel powder and iron powder are mostly produced by electrolysis or reduction methods, with particle sizes usually 2 – 5μm and purity reaching over 99% to reduce the impact of impurities on alloy performance.
Powder mixing is a key step to ensure uniform alloy composition. Common methods include mechanical mixing and wet mixing. Mechanical mixing involves mixing tungsten powder, nickel powder and iron powder in a certain proportion using equipment such as ball mills. To avoid powder oxidation, the mixing process must be carried out under inert gas protection, while controlling the ball-to-powder ratio and mixing time to ensure uniform powder mixing; wet mixing disperses the powder in a medium such as alcohol, achieving mixing through stirring or ball milling, which can reduce powder agglomeration and improve mixing uniformity. After mixing, drying is required to remove the medium.
Powder treatment includes operations such as sieving and degassing. Sieving removes large particles and impurities from the powder through sieves of different meshes to ensure the powder particle size distribution meets requirements; degassing involves heating the mixed powder in a vacuum or inert gas environment to remove moisture, gases, greases, etc. adsorbed on the powder surface, avoiding the generation of pores or bubbles during subsequent sintering, which affects alloy density.
Advanced powder preparation technologies such as atomization and mechanical alloying are also gradually applied to the preparation of tungsten-nickel-iron alloy powders. Atomization can directly prepare pre-alloyed powders with better composition uniformity; mechanical alloying achieves atomic-level mixing of elements through high-energy ball milling, which causes plastic deformation, cold welding and fragmentation of the powder, helping to refine grains and improve alloy performance.
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