Hybrid tungsten composites reinforced with zirconium carbide (ZrC) nanoparticles and tungsten fibers were developed by the conventional powder metallurgy process (ball-mill mixing of powders and fibers followed by spark plasma sintering). The synergistic and mutual influences of the fibers and nanoparticles on tungsten were investigated in tensile behavior and fracture-energy tests. Aided by the ZrC nanoparticles, up to 30% of the fibers could be embedded in the tungsten matrix. The fracture energy was maximized by co-introducing 0.2 wt% ZrC particles with 20 wt% short tungsten fibers. The fracture-energy enhancement of the short fibers is contributed by pseudo-toughness from the fiber–matrix interface, inherent toughness from the fibers themselves, and grain refinement (by 50%) of the tungsten matrix. The fracture energy of the composite is very sensitive to the ZrC content, because the two-way action of ZrC weakens the pseudo-toughness of the interface energy.

通过传统的粉末冶金工艺（粉末和纤维的球磨混合，然后进行电火花等离子烧结）开发了用碳化锆（ZrC）纳米颗粒和钨纤维增强的杂化钨复合材料。在拉伸性能和断裂能测试中研究了纤维和纳米颗粒对钨的协同作用和相互影响。在ZrC纳米颗粒的帮助下，多达30％的纤维可以嵌入钨基体中。通过共同引入0.2 wt％的ZrC颗粒和20 wt％的短钨纤维，可以使断裂能最大化。短纤维的断裂能增强是由纤维-基体界面产生的假韧性，纤维本身的固有韧性以及钨基体的晶粒细化（50％）引起的。