Thermophysical properties of ZrC_p/W composites prepared by hot-pressing

Zirconium carbide particle-reinforced tungsten matrix (ZrC_p/W) composites were fabricated by hot-pressing technique. The effects of temperature and ZrC_p content on the thermophysical properties of the composites were investigated. The results show that with the increase of temperature, the specific capacity and the coefficient of thermal expansion increase monotonically, the thermal conductivity increases slightly. The specific capacity and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the ZrC_p/W composites increase with ZrC_p content increasing, which is in accord with the mixture rule. The thermal conductivity of the ZrC_p/W composites, which are sensitive to microstructure of the composites, decrease greatly with ZrC_p content increasing. The experimental results of the thermal conductivity are considerably lower than the predicted ones, which mainly due to the diffraction effect of the defects like grain boundary and pores on thermal conducting-particles.