Tungsten heavy alloys (W–Ni–Fe) play an important role in various industries because of their excellent mechanical properties, such as the excellent hardness of tungsten, low thermal expansion, corrosion resistance of nickel, and ductility of iron. In tungsten heavy alloys, tungsten nanoparticles allow the relatively low-temperature molding of high-melting-point tungsten and can improve densification. In this study, to improve the densification of tungsten heavy alloy, nanoparticles are manufactured by ultrasonic milling of metal oxide. The physical properties of the metal oxide and the solvent viscosity are selected as the main parameters. When the density is low and the Mohs hardness is high, the particle size distribution is relatively high. When the density is high and the Mohs hardness is low, the particle size distribution is relatively low. Additionally, the average particle size tends to decrease with increasing viscosity. Metal oxides prepared by ultrasonic milling in high-viscosity solvent show an average particle size of less than 300 nm based on the dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy analysis. The effects of the physical properties of the metal oxide and the solvent viscosity on the pulverization are analyzed experimentally.

Ultrasonic-milling of metal oxide nanopowders for the preparation of tungsten heavy alloys was investigated. Milling time was selected as a major process variable. XRD results of metal oxide nanopowders ultrasonic-milled for 50 h and 100 h showed that agglomerate size reduced with increasing milling time and there was no evidence of contamination or change of composition by impurities. It was found that nanocomposite powders reduced at in a hydrogen atmosphere showed a chemical composition of 93.1W-4.9Ni-2.0Fe from EDS analysis. Hardness of sintered part using 50 h and 100 h powder samples was 399 Hv and 463 Hv, respectively, which is higher than the that of commercial products (330-340 Hv).

A new tungsten heavy alloy with hybrid structure was manufactured for the kinetic energy penetrator. The tungsten heavy alloy is composed of two parts: core region is molybdenum added heavy alloy to promote the self-sharpening; outer part encompassing the core is conventional heavy alloy to sustain severe load in a muzzle during firing. From ballistic test, it was found that the penetration performance of the hybrid structure tungsten heavy alloy is higher than that of conventional heavy alloy. This heavy alloy is thought to be very useful for the penetrator in the near future.

Ultrasonic-milling of metal oxide nanopowders for the preparation of tungsten heavy alloys was investigated. Milling time was selected as a process variable. XRD results of metal oxide nanopowders ultrasonic-milled for 50 and 100h showed that mean crystallite size reduced with increasing milling time and there was no evidence of contamination or change of composition by impurities. It was found that nanocomposite powders reduced at in atmosphere had a composition of 93.1W-4.9Ni-2.0Fe by EDX analysis. Hardness of sintered samples of 50 and 100h was 390 and 463 Hv, respectively, which corresponds to the hardness of commercial products.

A new concept of tungsten heavy alloy composite was suggested and manufactured in this study for the kinetic energy penetrator. The composite heavy alloy was composed of two parts, the center was molybdenum added heavy alloy compositions which were designed to promote the self-sharpening effect and outside was conventional heavy alloy in order to sustain the severe stress condition in the muzzle during the firing. The center part showed an intergranular and brittle mode at tungsten/tungsten interfaces by which self-sharpening effect could be activated. On the other hand, that of outside showed conventional ductile fracture mode under high strain rate condition. From the sub-scale penetration test, the depth of penetration in heavy alloy composites showed greater values than those of conventional tungsten heavy alloys. It is suggested that the heavy alloy composite could be considered as one of the future penetrator materials.