Development of Tungsten: Copper Shaped Charge Liners by Metal Injection Moulding of Ultrafine Composite Powder

摘要

Shaped charges are widely used for perforations in the field of oil and gas production. Tungsten-copper (W-Cu) is an attractive material for shaped charge liner due to the combination of the high density of W and the good plasticity of Cu. However, W and Cu are not mutually soluble. It is difficult to fabricate the W-Cu pseudo-alloy with a very homogeneous microstructure by using conventional Cu infiltration or mixed powder, which is important for the shaped charged liner to form a stable metal jet during explosion. To solve this problem, a type of submicron W-Cu composite powder has been developed by thermo-chemical process. With the utilization of metal injection moulding (MIM), the near net-shaping of a type of shaped charge liner in W-25Cu has been realized. The resulted material has a microstructure with the submicron W particles distributing homogeneously in the Cu matrix.