Tungsten

About Tungsten

Tungsten is known as one of the toughest things found in nature. It is super dense and almost impossible to melt.

Pure tungsten is a silver-white metal and when made into a fine powder can be combustible and can spontaneously ignite.

Natural tungsten contains five stable isotopes and 21 other unstable isotopes.

Tungsten is used in many different ways because it is very strong and durable.

It is very resistant to corrosion and has the highest melting point and highest tensile strength of any element.

Its strength comes when it is made into compounds, though. Pure tungsten is very soft.

Tungsten Uses

Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals and is alloyed with other metals to strengthen them.

Tungsten and its alloys are used in many high-temperature applications, such as arc-welding electrodes and heating elements in high-temperature furnaces.

Cemented carbide: Tungsten carbide is immensely hard and is very important to the metal-working, mining and petroleum industries. It is made by mixing tungsten powder and carbon powder and heating to 2200°C. It makes excellent cutting and drilling tools, including a new ‘painless’ dental drill which spins at ultra-high speeds.

Calcium and magnesium tungstate is widely used in fluorescent lighting.