Category Archives for "Tungsten Alloys"

Tungsten – A revolution in metal industry

Up until now, it is known that tungsten cannot be found in nature in its pure form. This element is usually bonded to other metals and elements. Once it is extracted it has to be purified in order to be used for industrial purposes. Tungsten Heavy Alloy is a highly respected element when it comes to the protection from radiation. Therefore it is widely used in the medical industry as a shielding component to the radiation therapy machines.

Its amazing properties made it quite popular and almost every industry in the world uses this metal. This element is highly sought out for because of its outstanding purposes.

It shows remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat as one of its properties and it also has incredible bonding abilities to other similar elements as well as durability.

These bonding abilities are perfect for making alloys, heavy and super alloys. It is exactly this ability that made tungsten the most used metal in the industries of today. For example, a great use of tungsten heavy alloys is mostly present in the aerospace industry.

Because of its astonishing properties, it has become possible to reduce the component physical size while maintaining the needed resistance and durability. Sometimes, it is even possible to increase the resistance of the component. This was almost like a revelation and it actually led to a revolutionary discovery of what this amazing metal can do.

When industries figured out how important this element can be to the future technology achievements, it became quite clear that they were on the verge of something the world has never seen before.

Soon, this element became the foundation of all researchers in the medical industry as well as leisure and sports, tooling and machining industry and so on.

Tungsten Alloys and the industries that use them

Tungsten is a metal that is not found in its pure form in nature. Usually, the metal is bonded to another metal deep inside the earth. Once taken out Tungsten must be extracted and purified so it will become the rare metal that is present is so many industries today. The metal has amazing properties which is one of the reasons the metal is so highly sought out for.

One of these properties is its high resistance to heat and corrosion, and the other is the durability of said metal and the great combining ability with other metals to make alloys and super alloys. Some of these alloys are made by mixing Tungsten with nickel and copper or nickel and iron, or just steel. As such tungsten has been a metal that has found use in almost all the industries we know today.

Some of them are:

– The aerospace industry

Since Tungsten is a high-density material it is highly sought out for in the aerospace industry. With a tungsten alloy,it’s possible to reduce the physical size of the component while still offering the durability and resistance of the component, and sometimes even a higher resistance than if the component was made from other metals.

Some of the aerospace alloy applications include inertial systems, fluid control wires, rotor blades, propellers, metal bars, trim weights and of course the missiles that are imbued with tungsten in the military aerospace industry.

– Sports and leisure

Some of the less known uses of Tungsten can be seen in the sports and leisure industry. For example, the finest darts are made from tungsten alloys. Also, horseshoes and golf clubs take advantage of the sturdiness that comes from the tungsten alloy as it offers perfect weight and balance. In the hunting sports, firearms are also made and benefit greatly from counterbalances made from tungsten alloys.

– The medical industry

When it comes to protection from radiation, Tungsten Heavy Alloy is a highly respected substance. Usually, the metal will be seen as a shielding component to the x-ray and radiation therapy machines. Its high-density alloys are also present in medical isotope production, container production, and other radiation shielding applications.

– The machining and tooling industry

Tungsten has even seen its use in the creation of working tools and machining appliances. The tungsten alloys make for stronger and sturdier tools of which some of them are: grinding quills, tool extensions, cutters and others. The benefits range from: high corrosion resistance, high breakage and chipping resistance, reduced vibration etc.

– The oil and natural gas industry

 Since tungsten has radiation shielding properties its alloys are highly sought out in the oil and natural gas industry as protective equipment and many other appliances.  The casings which are sent down the holes to locate the oil must be heavy enough to sink through the mud yet strong and able to withstand intense hydrostatic pressure.

As you can see Tungsten can be used in many appliances in several different industries. This rare metal won’t see itself replaced in anytime soon as its special properties will make it a highly sought out metal even in future industries and appliances.

Tungsten Alloys in Medical Applications

When we talk about tungsten, most of the people are not aware at what scale tungsten and its alloys can be used. Tungsten is one of the rare metals that has the highest point of melting, which is at 3,422 °C, 6,192 °F, and is usually found in the earth almost exclusively in chemical compounds. Tungsten is the heaviest element known to be essential to any living organism, but only in small quantities.

So, in short, tungsten can be found all over the world but where can it be used is the question. In short everywhere where its high melting point can be a benefit to the product, of which some of them can be found in the medical industry.  Tungsten can be used in a variety of applications, from multi-leaf collimators, oncology treatment instruments, containment crates, medical isotope production, transport, radiation shielding materials, syringe shields, lead shielding replacement parts.  Tungsten Heavy Alloy is also a well known component for creating shieldings which are used for X Ray scans since tungsten can withstand high temperature and keep environmental radiation exposure at almost zero.

Now, as you can see, tungsten has lots of uses, so let’s explain which some of them are:

– Multileaf Collimators

Alloys of high density are used for multileaf collimators to make individual leaves. For that reason, they can move freely in and outside of the particle beam path. This device directs a focused beam for treatment with radiotherapy, delivering correct therapy doses to its patients. For this reason, multileaf collimators are used in radiology departments where they have become an important part of the process of radiotherapy.

– Radiation and Lead Shielding Materials

Since tungsten is a tough rare metal its perfect for shielding from radiation. Tungsten has seen many uses in both medical, military and household appliances when it comes to protecting from various radiation waves. With its unsurpassed strength, Tungsten is widely used in the medical industry as a protective material for both the delicate instruments and humans. Tungsten can be used in gamma radiography, radioactive source containers, syringe shields, oncology systems and oncology instruments.

Final words about Tungsten

When it comes to precision, toughness, and durability, Tungsten is one of the natural materials that you want to have on your side. Human health is a fragile ecosystem that needs to be nurtured and protected at all times, and since people do a poor job with that as it is, we have to rely on products that can make the threat to our health lower while we are still performing health detrimental tasks.

Rest assured, when you see an item made from Tungsten, or an item that contains a lot of Tungsten in their metal base, that that item is not only going to outlast most items in the same category that are made from other metals, but that that item will be safer for use and will usually provide more benefits compared to its competition. However, Tungsten is a metal that interferes with molybdenum and copper metabolism and is, therefore, a toxic element to animal life. So try and keep your Tungsten products away from animals just to be perfectly safe.