W-Cu composites subjected to heavy hot deformation

The effect of plastic deformation on the properties and microstructure of W-Cu composites produced by multi-pass hot extrusion with steel cup was investigated. W-Cu composites were sintered at 1100 °C and then the sintered billets were firstly extruded at 900 °C with different extrusion ratios. The second hot extrusion was performed at 900 °C. The plastic deformation of copper phase plays a dominant part during the whole extrusion process. The microstructural evolution ofWphase during the whole processing of heavy hot deformation can be divided into different stages. Experimental results indicate that theWagglomeration will be broken into fine particles effectively when the accumulated plastic deformation amounts to 97.6% after the second extrusion.