Influence of 1 and 5 wt% TiC additions on the oxidation behaviour of pure tungsten

Proceedings of: 19th International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials (ICFRM-19), 27 October-01 November 2019, La Jolla, California, U.S.A ; The influence of 1 and 5 wt% of TiC nanoparticles on the oxidation behaviour of reinforced tungsten has been evaluated up to 700 °C in dry air. Isothermal thermogravimetric tests prove that the addition of 5 wt% of TiC particles is detrimental, increasing the mass gain of pure tungsten by a factor of ten. TiC particles act as stress concentrators, facilitating microcracking events within the scale and promoting decohesion between TiC-free boundaries and TiC-containing regions of the material. Compared to pure tungsten, lowering TiC addition to 1 wt% significantly improves the oxidation resistance at 700 °C by reducing about seven times the mass gain, while at 600 °C both materials exhibit similar resistance. At 700 °C, the presence of 1 wt% of TiC particles inhibits massive microcracking events occurring in the scale formed on pure tungsten, rendering the oxide scale denser and more protective. ; This research has been supported by the Regional Government of Madrid through TECHNOFUSIÓN(III)CM (S2018/EMT-4437) and the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (ENE2015-70300-C3-2-R MINECO/FEDER) and programs. The authors acknowledge the expert support of A. García and A. Tomás from the CENIM Microscopy Laboratory.