Directional solidification of monocrystal refractory metal with electron beam floating zone melting

Refractory metals and alloys with outstanding properties play an unsubstituted role in the fields of national defence, aerospace, electronics, energy sources, chemical engineering, metallurgy and nuclear industry, and attract much more attention recently. The application and development of the refractory metals and alloys are reviewed. As an example of monocrystal W, Mo and alloys, the development of the directional solidification technology with electron beam floating zone melting for the preparation of refractory metal monocrystal is summarized. The processing and microstructure of molybdenum produced by electron beam zone melting is also preliminarily investigated.