Tungsten Concentrate and Tungsten Carbide

Tungsten Carbide has a hardness close to diamond. This makes it a commonly used material for applications requiring high strength and wear resistance. Other tungsten carbide properties include: high fracture strength, high thermal conductivity, high resistance to thermal creep, high electrical conductivity, high resistance to corrosion, high modulus of elasticity

A tungsten carbide is a requirement for sectioning very hard or tough materials. Tungsten Carbide blades increase productivity on softer specimens, because of the time saving achieved by eliminating frequent changes of disposable steel blades, glass knives or sharpening of steel knives and also the elimination of frequent alignment procedures and the material cost of other knives. Tungsten carbide blades can last for thousands of sections each.

Tungsten carbide products are classified into three major categories:

• Wear Grades — used primarily in dies, machine and tool guides, and in everyday items such as line guides on fishing rods and reels. Used anywhere good wear resistance is required.

• Impact Grades — also used for dies, particularly for stamping and forming, and in tools such as mining drill heads.

• Cutting Tool Grades — the cutting tool grades of tungsten carbides are divided into two groups, depending on their primary application. If the carbide is intended for use on cast iron that is a nonductile material, it is graded as a cast iron carbide. If it is to be used to cut steel, a ductile material, it is graded as a steel grade tungsten carbide.

As cemented tungsten carbide is satisfying changing technical demands in milling and turning operations, it is considered a key material for cutting-tool inserts. Ceramic-metallic compounds and ceramics are being produced and used as replacements for cemented tungsten carbide in order to fulfill varying market demands. Demand for more distinctive metal, tungsten, is persistently growing owing to rapid development in national defense, civil and war industries throughout the globe. Tungsten carbide manufacture involves a complex sequence of operation, unique to this industry, in which almost every factor is critical to success.