Hydrogen reduction behavior and microstructural characteristics of WO₃ and WO₃-NiO powders

The characterization and understanding of the hydrogen reduction and sintering behavior of powder mixtures prepared from WO₃ and WO₃-NiO have been investigated. The nano-sized W and W-Ni powders were prepared by ball milling and hydrogen reduction of oxide powders. The reduction behavior is analyzed by temperature-programmed reduction method with different heating rates in Ar-10% H₂ atmosphere. X-ray diffractometry analysis revealed that the oxide powders are changed to W and W-Ni powders with an average particle size of about 100 nm by hydrogen reduction at 800 °C for 1 h. The hydrogen reduction kinetics was evaluated by the amount of peak shift with heating rates. The activation energies for the reduction of pure WO₃ and WO₃-NiO, estimated by the slope of the Kissinger plot, were measured as 87.4–117.4 kJ/mol depending on reduction steps. The consolidated W-Ni by spark plasma sintering has relatively dense and large grains with neck growth by enhanced mass transport due to the addition of Ni. These results are help to optimize the powder synthesis process and to understand the hydrogen reduction behavior and Ni addition effect related to microstructure of powders and sintered bodies.