Abstract
Tensile testing at room temperature and microstructural characterization were performed on a series of tungsten heavy alloys containing 91.3-97.0wt% tungsten. Ductility of the alloys decreased continuously with increasing tungsten content. The ultimate tensile strength exhibited a maximum near 95.5wt% tungsten. The strength maximum resulted from a trade-off between volume fraction strengthening and microstructure limited ductility.
Fracture surface observations indicated that the maximum strength is correlated with the tungsten cleavage failure mode. At higher tungsten contents the tendency toward intergranular failure increased.
