Tungsten is a brittle, hard, dense, rare metal. The free element is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. Tungsten was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as a metal in 1783. Its important ores include wolframite (an iron manganese tungstate mineral) and the mineral scheelite (calcium tungstate). Tungsten’s chemical symbol (W), comes from the original name of the element, Wolfram. It is produced as a metal powder and then solidified by sintering and/or melting.
Tungsten is one of the five major refractory metals (metals with very high resistance to heat and wear). It has the highest melting point of all the elements at approximately 3370 degrees Celsius, and the lowest vapor pressure of any commonly used metal. Tungsten’s extremely high melting point makes it an ideal metal for structural applications exposed to very high temperatures. It is robust with the highest tensile strength, has high electrical conductivity, and is extremely resistant to corrosion.
Tungsten’s high density of 19.3 times that of water, is comparable to that of Uranium and Gold, and much higher (about 1.7 times) than that of Lead. Polycrystalline Tungsten is an intrinsically brittle and hard material due to its weak grain boundaries, making it difficult to work. However, pure single-crystalline Tungsten is more ductile, and can be cut with a hard-steel hacksaw.
Tungsten is commonly used in filaments, electric bulbs, electric tubes, heating elements in high-temperature furnaces, high speed tools, and in the aerospace and automotive industries.
Tungsten alloys serve a wide range of applications in electronics, furnace, joining, and aerospace industries. Precise alloying of Rhenium with these other refractory metals adds both ductility and strength to suit customer specifications.
Rhenium Alloys provides a wide range of wire products to serve applications in major electronics products, thermocouples, high temperature furnace parts, and welding requirements.
Tungsten Wire, a precision wire, with its very high tensile strength even at a very small diameter, and good electrical conductivity is widely used for thermocouples, electronic devices, and lighting.
Our Rhenium Wire is 99.99% pure and has high strength and excellent ductility. Molybdenum-47.5%-Rhenium Wire is used in welding, electronics and wire mesh grids for the space industries. Tungsten-Rhenium Wire is a staple in thermocouples and electronics products.
All Wire compositions are available in a full range of sizes (as small as .001”) to meet your requirements.
Refractory metal Tungsten rod (bar) products are available in a broad range of sizes (up to 6” in diameter) and customized solutions.
Rhenium Alloys is a major supplier of Metalizing Filaments to the vacuum metalizing and evaporation industries. They are engineered to provide reliable thin film coatings on automotive lamp reflectors, and various decorative applications in appliances, specialized machinery, cosmetics and more.
We offer coils in a wide variety of designs: single strand; three strand; with or without aluminum core; and open or closed lay. In addition to the popular “Z” leg coil, we provide many other styles, including helix configurations and conical and cylindrical basket designs.
The standard wire size is 3/030 – but many other sizes are readily available.
Our high quality Tungsten Filaments provide excellent uniform thermal conductivity, ensuring reliable performance and long life. We also offer expert on-site technical service.
Our Tungsten and Tungsten alloy products are proudly Made in USA.
Heat of Vaporization:
Heat of Fusion:
1.73 W/cm/K @ 298.2 K
5.65 microhm-cm @ 27 °C
0.0317 Cal/g/K @ 25 °C
185 K-Cal/gm atom at 5660 °C
8.42 Cal/gm m
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