The production process of tungsten alloy shielding parts is relatively complex, involving multiple steps to ensure that the final product has the required density, hardness, radiation protection capability, and high-temperature resistance. The main production processes for tungsten alloy shielding parts are as follows:
- Raw Material Preparation The production of tungsten alloy starts with the selection of suitable raw materials. Tungsten alloys are typically composed of tungsten, nickel, copper, iron, and other metal powders. The purity and proportion of the raw materials directly affect the final product’s quality. Common tungsten alloy compositions include:
- Tungsten Powder (W): Typically accounts for 70% to 95% of the alloy.
- Nickel, Copper, Iron, and Other Metals: Used to improve the alloy’s machinability, toughness, and corrosion resistance.
- Powder Metallurgy Method Tungsten alloy is commonly produced using powder metallurgy, which ensures the alloy maintains good density and uniformity during production. The main steps of the powder metallurgy process include:
- Powder Mixing: First, tungsten powder and other metal powders (such as nickel, copper, etc.) are mixed in specific proportions to ensure even distribution. Appropriate binders may be added to facilitate the subsequent forming process.
- Pressing and Molding: The mixed metal powders are pressed under high pressure to form the desired shape. This process is typically achieved using molds, and the design of the mold directly influences the size and accuracy of the final product.
- Sintering Process
- Sintering is a key step in powder metallurgy, where high-temperature heating causes the metal powder particles to fuse together, forming a dense alloy material. The sintering temperature for tungsten alloys typically ranges from 1400°C to 2000°C, depending on the composition of the alloy and the required performance.
- Sintering Atmosphere: To prevent tungsten alloy from oxidizing, sintering is usually carried out in a vacuum or inert gas environment (such as argon).
- Process Control: The sintering process requires precise control of time, temperature, and atmosphere to ensure the final product’s density and mechanical properties meet the requirements.
- Heat Treatment and Cooling
- Heat Treatment: After sintering, tungsten alloy shielding parts typically undergo heat treatment to further improve their mechanical properties, such as hardness, strength, and toughness. Heat treatment processes include annealing, aging, and other techniques to reduce internal stress and optimize the material’s crystal structure.
- Cooling: The sintered tungsten alloy needs to cool slowly to avoid cracks or deformation caused by rapid temperature changes. The cooling rate and method have a significant impact on the alloy’s microstructure.
- Machining Due to tungsten alloy’s high hardness, machining is an essential step in the production of tungsten alloy shielding parts. Common machining methods include:
- Turning, Milling, Grinding: These methods are typically used for precision machining of tungsten alloys to ensure the shielding part’s dimensional accuracy and surface finish.
- Drilling and Cutting: Depending on the design, tungsten alloy parts may need to be drilled or cut to specific shapes. Given tungsten alloy’s high hardness, specialized diamond tools or hard metal tools are usually required for machining.
- Surface Treatment Tungsten alloy shielding parts generally undergo surface treatment to enhance their corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and oxidation resistance. Common surface treatments include:
- Polishing: Polishing is used to smooth and flatten the tungsten alloy surface, reducing roughness and improving appearance.
- Coatings: Tungsten alloy surfaces can be coated with nickel, chromium, titanium, or other materials to improve their corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and oxidation resistance.
- Passivation: Chemical passivation treatment can create an oxide film on the tungsten alloy surface, enhancing its corrosion resistance.
- Quality Inspection and Radiation Protection Testing Strict quality control and radiation protection testing are necessary during and after production to ensure that the shielding parts meet the required standards:
- Dimensional Inspection: Precision instruments (such as coordinate measuring machines) are used to check dimensional accuracy.
- Mechanical Performance Testing: Hardness, tensile strength, and other mechanical property tests are conducted to ensure the product meets quality standards.
- Radiation Protection Testing: Radiation tests are performed using radiation sources (such as X-ray or γ-ray sources) to ensure that tungsten alloy shielding parts provide sufficient radiation shielding effectiveness.
- Packaging and Delivery After the production and quality inspection, tungsten alloy shielding parts need to be packaged to ensure they are not damaged during transport. Packaging materials are usually designed to be shockproof and moisture-resistant to ensure the integrity of the products.
Summary: The production process of tungsten alloy shielding parts involves several steps, including powder metallurgy, sintering, heat treatment, machining, surface treatment, and quality inspection. Due to the high hardness and density of tungsten alloy, its processing is more difficult, requiring meticulous control at every step to ensure that the final product possesses excellent radiation protection capabilities, mechanical properties, and longevity.
Customized R&D and Production of Tungsten, Molybdenum Products
Chinatungsten Online and CTIA GROUP LTD have been working in the tungsten industry for nearly 30 years, specializing in flexible customization of tungsten and molybdenum products worldwide, which are tungsten and molybdenum design, R&D, production, and overall solution integrators with high visibility and credibility worldwide.
Chinatungsten Online and CTIA GROUP LTD provide products mainly including: tungsten oxide products, such as tungstates such as APT/WO3; tungsten powder and tungsten carbide powder; tungsten metal products such as tungsten wire, tungsten ball, tungsten bar, tungsten electrode, etc.; high-density alloy products, such as dart rods, fishing sinkers, automotive tungsten crankshaft counterweights, mobile phones, clocks and watches, tungsten alloy shielding materials for radioactive medical equipment, etc.; tungsten silver and tungsten copper products for electronic appliances. Cemented carbide products include cutting tools such as cutting, grinding, milling, drilling, planing, wear-resistant parts, nozzles, spheres, anti-skid spikes, molds, structural parts, seals, bearings, high-pressure and high-temperature resistant cavities, top hammers, and other standard and customized high-hardness, high-strength, strong acid and alkali resistant high-performance products. Molybdenum products include molybdenum oxide, molybdenum powder, molybdenum and alloy sintering materials, molybdenum crucibles, molybdenum boats, TZM, TZC, molybdenum wires, molybdenum heating belts, molybdenum spouts, molybdenum copper, molybdenum tungsten alloys, molybdenum sputtering targets, sapphire single crystal furnace components, etc.
For more information about tungsten alloy products, please visit the website: http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/
If you are interested in related products, please contact us:
Email: sales@chinatungsten.com|
Tel: +86 592 5129696 / 86 592 5129595
