Scandia pressed cathodes were prepared by powder metallurgy method using mixed powder of scandia doped tungsten and barium-calcium aluminates obtained by different mixing methods.The element distribution uniformity greatly affected the emission property.The powder prepared by ball-milling had small particle size and uniform distribution of different elements.This kind of powder was favorable for the chemical reaction among Ba,Ca aluminates,scandia and tungsten to take place sufficiently to form active substance which can improve the emission property.The emission current density of the cathode prepared with ball-milling powder was about 8 times higher than that prepared by manually mixing method,4 times higher than Os coated M-type cathode.The higher content of the active substance on the cathode surface prepared by ball-milling led to the better emission performance of the cathode.
Scandia doped tungsten powders were prepared by spray drying combined with two-step hydrogen reduction.The particle size of doped tungsten powder,powder morphology and doped tungsten matrix were characterized by scanning electron microscope,X-ray diffrac-tion and laser diffraction particle size analyzer,respectively.The reduction behavior of Sc2O3 doped tungsten oxide and the effect of Sc2O3 on the property of tungsten powder were studied by the temperature programmed reduction.The experimental results showed that the pre-cursor powders prepared by spray drying had spherical shape.The addition of Sc2O3 could decrease the reduction temperature of tungsten oxide.The scandia doped tungsten powder had sub-micrometer size in the range of 0.1 to1 μm and scandium distributed evenly in the powder.By using this kind powder,sub-microstructure cathode matrices with semispherical grains and homogenous distribution of scan-dium were obtained.
