Hello all
does anyone have any experience working tungsten?
I have a 9 pound, and an 84 pound block of 95% tungsten, 5% nickel,
as identified by XRF analysis.
so, I’d like to roll it into some sheet, or perhaps forge the
smaller piece. but I am ignorant of the annealing temperatures.
obviously with a melting point of 6,100 Deg F i am not going to be
casting it.
does anyone know how to anneal it?
warm regards
Mark Zirinsky
denver
does anyone have any experience working tungsten?
Nope, Mark… A Google for “tungsten annealing” brought up a fair
amount of stuff, though - a Google book, others. Some stuff heRe:
Hey, good luck with that…
The way tingsten is produced means that it is normally made as a
sintered sponge and is about as soft as it gets when you have it en
masse. James Binnion may know of a way but I would suggest that it
is probably as soft as it is going to be in its current state without
resorting to chemical alteration. you should be able to machine it
and then harden it afterwards.
Nick Royall
Tungsten is never soft at room temperature. It must be worked at
elevated temperatures of 1000 F -2900 F or it will crack. Annealing
is done at very high temperatures but varies from alloy to alloy. I
can’t find any info on your alloy other than a patent application
that lists a tungsten nickel iron alloy as a “ductile” tungsten alloy
so maybe that is what you have but there is no available info on it
that I can find
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts