Effect of Heating Rate on Densification and Grain Growth During Spark Plasma Sintering of 93W-5.6Ni-1.4Fe Heavy Alloys

Blended 93W-5.6Ni-1.4Fe powders were sintered via the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique using heating rates from 10 K min⁻¹ to 380 K min⁻¹ (10 °C min⁻¹ to 380 °C min⁻¹). The kinetics of densification and grain growth were analyzed to identify heating rate effects during the SPS of 93W-5.6Ni-1.4Fe powders. The activation energies for densification were calculated and compared with the experimental values for diffusion and other mass transport phenomena. The results show that for the slowly heated specimens [heating rate <100 K min⁻¹ (100 °C min⁻¹)], densification occurs mainly through dissolution–precipitation of W through the matrix phase and W grain boundary diffusion. The concurrent grain growth is dominated by surface diffusion at a low sintering temperature and by solution–reprecipitation and Ni-enhanced W grain boundary diffusion at a higher temperature. For the specimens sintered with heating rates higher than 100 K min⁻¹ (100 °C min⁻¹), the apparent activation energy value for the mechanism controlling densification is a strong function of the relative density, and fast densification controlled by multiple diffusion mechanisms and intensive viscous flow dominates over the grain growth. High SPS heating rate is favorable to obtain high density and fine-grained tungsten heavy alloys.