Refractory Tungsten

Applications

Because of its high melting temperature, tungsten is commonly employed in a variety of lighting and furnace applications. Additionally, the coefficient of thermal expansion of tungsten is close to that of silicon, making it a good selection in brazed mounts for silicon diode chips.

Formability

Tungsten can be quite difficult to form in any fashion. It is necessary to preheat the material to a minimum of 675 C prior to any forming.

Principle Design Features

Tungsten has good thermal and electrical conductivity along with low vapor pressure at high temperature. As an element, trungsten has the highest melting temperature of all metallic materials (6170 F). Due to this fact, conventional melting methods are impractical and the material is pressed and sintered into shapes for re-working. Additional data available at http://www.rembar.com/tung.htm.