Work function study of some dilute solutions of sintered tungsten-iridium alloys

Five compositions of dilute solution, sintered tungsten, iridium alloys were fabricated by the P/M technique. Vacuum effective work function studies were performed on the alloys using a vacuum emission vehicle and a thermionic emission microscope. The results indicate that the sintered alloys behave different from the arc-melted ones in two ways. The effective work functions for the sintered alloys are lower than that of their arc-melted counterparts and the effect of oxygen on the effective work function is less pronounced in this study