Tungsten steel is any steel that has

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

as its alloying element with characteristics derived mostly from the presence of this element (as opposed to any other element in the alloy). Common alloys have between 2% and 18% tungsten by weight along with small amounts of

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ...

and

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pass ...

which together create an alloy with exceptional heat, corrosion, and wear resistance. Tungsten is one of the oldest elements used for alloying steel. It forms a very hard

carbide In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of t ...

and iron tungstite. High tungsten content in the alloy, however, tends to cause brittleness and makes it subject to fracturing rather than bending. The SAE designation for all tungsten steels consist of four numbers beginning with the number 7, in the format 7XXX. Tungsten steel is used for manufacturing micro-drill bits, high-durability self-sharpening rotary cutting blades, and rocket engine nozzles, among many other applications.

References

Steel alloys {{Alloy-stub