Effect of temperature on mechanical properties of beryllium intermetallic compounds fabricated by plasma sintering

This purpose of study is to establish the material database of neutron multiplier for the JA DEMO design. In the previous study, we reported the effects of sintering conditions as temperature and pressure on hardness and sintered density mainly in the sintering temperature from 1050 °C to 1200 °C. In this study, the microstructure observation and compressive tests were carried out. As results of microstructure observations, the pores were almost disappeared, and the grain size increased with increase in sintering temperature. Compression tests were carried out from room temperature (R.T.) to 1000 °C with the samples sintered at 1200 °C. The compressive strength at R.T. was approximately 1.69 GPa. With the increase in testing temperature, there was a tendency for the strength to decrease from 800 °C to 1000 °C. In addition, the load-compressibility indicated that the yield point appears at 850 °C.