Tungsten and tungsten alloys are presently considered as the most promising materials, primarily thanks to their typical material properties such as high temperature strength and low erosion rate, to withstand extreme conditions. The manufacturing of parts by mechanical machining, such as milling and turning is, however, extremely cost and time intensive because tungsten is very hard and brittle.
Powder Injection Moulding (PIM) has been adapted to tungsten processing at KIT for a number of years. This production method is deemed promising in view of the requirement for the large-scale production of near-net-shape high precision tungsten parts. PIM therefore offers a significant cost-saving advantage compared to conventional machining. The properties of the successfully manufactured divertor parts, consisting only of pure tungsten, were a high density >98 % T.D., a hardness of 457 HV0.1, a grain size of approximately 5 µm and a microstructure without cracks or porosity.
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