Influence of Annealing Time on Microstructure of Ni-W Alloys

The as-cast Ni-W alloys with 15wt%W, 25wt%W and 30wt%W were annealed in hydrogen at 1100. The effect of the annealing time on the microstructure of Ni-W alloys was studied, and the phase constituents and microstructure of annealed Ni-W alloys were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that no any phase changed for Ni-15%W, Ni-25%W and Ni-30%W alloys annealed for 60 min, 90 min and 150 min, which were still consisted of single-phase Ni (W) solid solution. However, microstructure had a significant change after annealing. With increase of annealing time, the microstructure of Ni-15%W alloy became more uniform after annealing for 90 min, and the average grain size was 95μm, whereas the grain size of Ni-15%W alloy increased significantly after annealing for 150 min. For Ni-25%W and Ni-30%W, there was no obvious change on the grain size with increase of annealing time, and the amount of oxides at grain boundaries gradually reduced. After annealing for 150 min, the impurities at grain boundaries almost disappeared. Subsequently, the annealing at 1100 for 150 min was beneficial for the desired microstructure of Ni-25%W and Ni-30%W alloys.