Preparation of Porous W-Cu by Freeze Casting of Tert-butyl Alcohol Slurry Mixed with WO3-CuO Powder

The influence of process conditions on the microstructure of porous W-Cu, fabricated by freeze casting using tert-butyl alcohol as the freezing agent, was investigated. The slurries containing 10 vol% of WO3-CuO powder were prepared by milling with a small amount of citric acid and polyethylene glycol as dispersants. The slurries with dispersion stability were frozen in a mold with the lower part cooled to -25°C, followed by sublimation in a vacuum to remove the freezing agent. The sintered W-1 vol% Cu in a hydrogen atmosphere exhibited aligned pores with the size of 50 μm, which were generated by sublimation of directionally solidified tert-butyl alcohol crystals. In the cross-section of the specimen, hexagonal pores corresponding to the crystal structure of tert-butyl alcohol was observed. Microstructure analysis of the struts revealed that Cu was distributed non-uniformly due to the mutual insolubility and low wettability of the W-Cu system.