Characterisation and sintering studies of mechanically milled nano tungsten powder

Elemental tungsten powder was mechanically milled by planetary mill for 100 h. Particles were thinned down to nanometre scale. The shape of the milled powders was flat cylindrical with average diameter and length 12.5 and 46.5 nm respectively. The corresponding crystallite size obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) was 26.96 nm. The results obtained by XRD and small angle X-ray scattering were well supported by transmission electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy results. The maximum shrinkage of the compact has been observed at similar to 1500 K, which has been used as a guideline for sintering experiments. The powders sintered at 1773 K have resulted in 96% relative density.