Microwave processing is emerging as an innovative and highly effective material processing method offering many advantages over conventional methods, especially for sintering applications. It is recognized for its various advantages, such as: time and energy saving, rapid heating rates, considerably reduced processing cycle time and temperature, fine microstructures and improved mechanical properties which lead to better product performance. Major constraints in conventional sintering of refractory material such as tungsten and its alloys are high sintering temperatures and long soaking times which cause abnormal grain growth and lead to poor mechanical properties. They get further aggravated at smaller (submicron and nano) tungsten powder sizes. This study describes recent research findings; W-18Cu and W-7Ni-3Cu alloys have been successfully consolidated using microwave heating which resulted in an overall reduction of sintering time of up to 80%. The microwave sintered samples exhibited finer microstructure and superior mechanical properties when compared with the conventional samples.

中文翻译：

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W-18Cu和W-7Ni-3Cu合金的微波烧结

微波加工正在成为一种创新且高效的材料加工方法，与传统方法相比具有许多优势，尤其是在烧结应用方面。它具有多种优势，例如：节省时间和能源、加热速度快、显着缩短加工周期和温度、精细的微观结构和改善的机械性能，从而带来更好的产品性能。钨及其合金等难熔材料的常规烧结的主要限制因素是高烧结温度和长均热时间，这会导致异常晶粒生长并导致机械性能差。它们在更小的（亚微米和纳米）钨粉尺寸下会进一步恶化。这项研究描述了最近的研究结果；W-18Cu 和 W-7Ni-3Cu 合金已使用微波加热成功固结，使烧结时间总体减少了 80%。与传统样品相比，微波烧结样品表现出更精细的微观结构和优异的机械性能。