| Summary: | Metal-oxide composites are commonly used in high temperature environments for their thermal stability and high melting points. Commonly employed with refractory oxides or carbides such as ZrC and HfC, these materials may be improved with the use of a low density, high melting point ceramic such as CeO<sub>2</sub>. In this work, the consolidation of W-CeO<sub>2</sub> metal matrix composites in the high CeO<sub>2</sub> concentration regime is explored. The CeO<sub>2</sub> concentrations of 50, 33, and 25 wt.%, the CeO<sub>2</sub> particle size from nanometer to micrometer, and various hot isostatic pressing temperatures are investigated. Decreasing the CeO<sub>2</sub> concentration is observed to increase the composite density and increase the Vickers hardness. The CeO<sub>2</sub> oxidation state is observed to be a combination of Ce<sup>3+</sup> and Ce<sup>4+</sup>, which is hypothesized to contribute to the porosity of the composites. The hardness of the metal-oxide composite can be improved more than 2.5 times compared to pure W processed by the same route. This work offers processing guidelines for further consolation of oxide-doped W composites.
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