A new process for achieving highly homogenous rare earth doped tungsten powder by centrifugal spray drying

Rare earth doped tungsten alloy and cemented carbide products are the hot spots of the current research, while the distribution uniformity of rare earth limits the application. The solution of ammonium tungstate and Ce(NO3)3·6H2O were used as the raw material and the rare earth doped ammonium paratungstate (APT) was prepared by centrifugal spray drying. The microstructure evolution of APT, tungsten oxide and tungsten powder were studied. The results show that the microsized undoped APT powder was amorphous, while the powder with (NH4)10(H2W12O42)·4H2O structure was prepared after rare earth cerium adding. The uniformly distributed Ce element was observed after calcining at 800 °C in the form of Ce4W9O33 phase, and the Ce2WO6 phase was identified by XRD after deoxidization in hydrogen at 800 °C for 2h. The average particle size of the rare earth doped tungsten powder ranged from 300 to 700 nm, which had slight decrease compared with undoped tungsten powder.