Tungsten

Tungsten is the basis of hard alloys and many heat-resistant alloys, which is part of wear-resistant alloys and tool steels.

Its alloys are used to make:

• parts of aircraft engines,
• filaments
• parts in electrovacuum devices.

Also, due to its high density, this metal is used for counterweights, artillery shells, bullets and high-speed rotors of gyroscopes to stabilize the flight of ballistic missiles.

Compounds of this metal have a wide range of applications. So, for example, hard alloys and composite materials based on tungsten carbide WC are used for mechanical processing of metals and non-metallic construction materials in mechanical engineering (turning, milling, planing, boring), drilling wells in the mining industry. Tungsten sulfide WS2 is used as a high-temperature (up to 500 °C) lubricant. In the production of solid electrolyte of high-temperature fuel cells, tungsten trioxide WO3 is used. Also, compounds of this metal are used in the paint and textile industry and as a catalyst and pigment in organic synthesis.