Abstract:Using irregular tungsten powder as the raw material, spherical tungsten powder was prepared by radio frequency plasma spheroidization technique in this study. It mainly focused on the pure tungsten parts fabricated by the selective laser melting. The study systematically investigated the impact of process parameters (including laser power and scanning speed) on the densification, microstructure, microhardness and compressive properties of the pure tungsten samples. Results showed that after being spheroidized, the tungsten powder had regular shape and its spheroidization rate reached more than 98%. Besides, the tap density and loose density of the tungsten powder were increased and its flowability was also improved. Meanwhile, the spheroidized tungsten powder was well-adapted to selective laser melting, with the density of printed samples between 84% to 95.6%. The study also found that with the increase of laser power, the density, microhardness and compressive strength of printed samples increased first and then decreased, while their cracks and holes decreased. Furthermore, with the increase in the scanning speed, the density and hardness of the printed samples reduced while the amount of cracks increased. Therefore, it is of great significance for the selective laser melting of tungsten powder to explore the appropriate printing parameters.