Applications Of Tungsten Alloys
Mar 13, 2026| Filament Industry
Tungsten was first used to make incandescent lamp filaments. Tungsten wire production rapidly developed after the process of pressing, remelting, forging, and drawing tungsten powder into wire. Research was also conducted on tungsten smelting and forming technologies, using consumable arc and electron beam melting to obtain tungsten ingots, which were then extruded and plastically processed into certain products. However, smelted ingots had coarse grains, poor plasticity, were difficult to process, and had a low yield; therefore, the smelting-plastic processing process did not become the main production method.
Sheet Metal Industry
China was able to produce tungsten wire materials in the 1950s. Research on tungsten smelting, powder metallurgy, and processing technologies began in the 1960s, and now it can produce plates, sheets, foils, rods, tubes, wires, and other shaped parts.
High-Temperature Materials
Tungsten materials are used at high temperatures, and simply using solid solution strengthening methods is not very effective in improving the high-temperature strength of tungsten. However, further dispersion (or precipitation) strengthening on top of solid solution strengthening can significantly improve high-temperature strength, with ThO2 and precipitated HfC dispersion particles showing the best strengthening effect. W-Hf-C and W-ThO2 alloys exhibit high high-temperature strength and creep strength around 1900℃. For tungsten alloys used below their recrystallization temperature, strain strengthening through warm work hardening is an effective strengthening method.
Military Weapons Industry
With scientific advancements, tungsten alloys have become raw materials for manufacturing modern military products, such as bullets, armor, shells, shrapnel heads, grenades, shotguns, bullet heads, armored vehicles, armored tanks, military aircraft, artillery components, and firearms. Armor-piercing projectiles made of tungsten alloys can penetrate steeply angled armor and composite armor, making them a primary anti-tank weapon.