9 ms·

Funny to see this article here now. For the last few weeks I've been geeking out on exotic materials, and especially Tungsten Carbide. I even went so far to buy

Funny to see this article here now. For the last few weeks I've been geeking out on exotic materials, and especially Tungsten Carbide. I even went so far to buy a polished Cobalt binded TC 70mm sphere from China. It's virtually indestructible and very few materials such as diamond can scratch it.

gnur 9y ago
Do you have a link for this? I have been interested in this as well, probably isn't cheap though?
- logotype 9y ago
  It's not cheap. I contacted almost all suppliers worldwide, and in EU the price is roughly 2000-3000 EUR for a single sphere. However, one supplier in China called Sintec had in stock for a mere USD 375. It's a grade 50 sphere with a precision of a few thousands of a millimetres:)
- logotype 9y ago
  Here's the link: http://www.zzsintec.com/Tungsten_carbide_Balls http://www.zzsintec.com/Tungsten_carbide_Balls
rimliu 9y ago
My wedding band is made of tungsten carbide. I thought about is as a bit different (neither my wife nor I are fond of gold) but certainly not exotic.
- Steve44 9y ago
  That's an unusual material for a ring, I just hope you don't get into the situation where it needs to be cut off. That would put me off using such a hard metal for rings and jewellery chains.
  - logotype 9y ago
    You can't cut it. But the Carbide is brittle and with enough pressure it can shatter Carbide ring manufacturers have this in mind and intentionally make "weak points" on the ring so it can be removed in an emergency.
  - ckluis 9y ago
    First responders actually have a device which cracks tungsten rings (I have one), but they are easier “crack” than cut. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poM423pewRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poM423pewRE - “the home way” https://www.loupe-magnifier.com/tungsten_finger_ring_removal_tool.htm https://www.loupe-magnifier.com/tungsten_finger_ring_removal... - “the professional way"
    - refurb 9y ago
      You can also do it using a pair of Vise-grips. Just adjust the tool so that the closed mouth is slightly smaller than the ring. The ring will break but not hurt the finger.
    - Steve44 9y ago
      Interesting thank you. I'm still not sure I'd go for one but it's not as bad as I'd thought providing they know what they are dealing with.
  - VLM 9y ago
    My experience with metalworking indicates carbide endmills and inserts are incredibly brittle, slapping hand very hard against a brick (like high-fiving a brick wall) would probably shatter it. If you drop an endmill (like a drill bit but different, about the size of your thumb) from a normal carrying height to a concrete floor, you'll almost certainly be buying a new endmill; much like dropped buttered toast always seems to land butter side down, a dropped end mill always seems to land point down and crack a big chip off. A ring should be lighter so less stress, and smooth would imply no stress concentration points, but I'd still be careful about impacts or dropping it. Another anecdote is interrupted cuts on a metal lathe will shatter carbide seemingly instantly every time, you need to use "old fashioned" high speed steel to cut anything with a gap. I wonder if the vibration of taking a diamond tip engraver to a carbide ring would shatter the ring instantly. An interesting anecdote is a rather large lump of carbide for a replaceable indexable cutter is a couple bucks and a rod of carbide turned into a polished sharpened precision endmill of a large size is only maybe $30. Possibly the ring could cost more because that specific type of carbide looks very nice or has been stress relieved or annealed somehow to make it less brittle, and of course there's the labor time of a professional jeweler if its custom work. But the raw material, unlike gold or Pt, can't cost more than perhaps $100 for a carbide ring.
- ajarmst 9y ago
  Mine too! I thought it made a nice statement about permanence or something like that. I was young. :-)
- eloff 9y ago
  I got mine because it was just nerdy, and I liked the weight of it. Plus if I'm ever in a plane crash, I know at least a little bit of finger will survive.
Tossrock 9y ago
Carbide is hardly exotic. You can get < $20 drill bits made from it at your local hardware store.
lightedman 9y ago
"It's virtually indestructible and very few materials such as diamond can scratch it." Not really. It's a ceramic and as such will shatter if knocked against another ceramic, hardness notwithstanding. Also, for some reason, my skin eats away at it. See my tungsten carbide ring vs my fiance's ring (mine is on the left) - both made before the requirement that the rings come with break points built-in - https://i.imgur.com/fSIOUJf.jpg https://i.imgur.com/fSIOUJf.jpg Note the differences - his ring looks brand new. Both rings bought at the same time, same maker, same style. Mine's practically obliterated.
- italophil 9y ago
  It might not be your skin, but your skin care products. Some contain aluminium oxide or magnesium oxide. Both of these can oxide tungsten.
  - lightedman 9y ago
    My skin care products are the exact same as what my fiance uses.
- hwillis 9y ago
  Note that your ring is not really representative of real tungsten carbide. WC is a sintered material so the amount of binder (cobalt) and the size and makeup of the WC powder is extremely important. Even among tungsten inserts there are types designed for continuous turning and types for interrupted turning, which have a much higher toughness. Toughness is what determines energy before breaking and note that while many ceramics are not at all tough, high end technical ceramics are tougher than most metals[1]. High quality WC is indeed tougher than steels. It's also twice as strong as most steel, but high-end steels surpass it in strength. [1]: http://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/news/research/news/110908-granta-design-chart.jpg http://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/news/research...
  - lightedman 9y ago
    "Toughness is what determines energy before breaking" With ceramics and glass, things get a little tricky. You can take a relatively weak and softer piece of pottery ceramic and obliterate the hardened bullet-resistant windows on police cars (the laminate inbetween being a different matter, but the glass itself will shatter/crack.) That happens via ultrasonic frequencies created on impact.

gnur 9y ago

Do you have a link for this? I have been interested in this as well, probably isn't cheap though?

logotype 9y ago
It's not cheap. I contacted almost all suppliers worldwide, and in EU the price is roughly 2000-3000 EUR for a single sphere. However, one supplier in China called Sintec had in stock for a mere USD 375. It's a grade 50 sphere with a precision of a few thousands of a millimetres:)
logotype 9y ago
Here's the link: http://www.zzsintec.com/Tungsten_carbide_Balls http://www.zzsintec.com/Tungsten_carbide_Balls

rimliu 9y ago

My wedding band is made of tungsten carbide. I thought about is as a bit different (neither my wife nor I are fond of gold) but certainly not exotic.

Steve44 9y ago
That's an unusual material for a ring, I just hope you don't get into the situation where it needs to be cut off. That would put me off using such a hard metal for rings and jewellery chains.
- logotype 9y ago
  You can't cut it. But the Carbide is brittle and with enough pressure it can shatter Carbide ring manufacturers have this in mind and intentionally make "weak points" on the ring so it can be removed in an emergency.
- ckluis 9y ago
  First responders actually have a device which cracks tungsten rings (I have one), but they are easier “crack” than cut. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poM423pewRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poM423pewRE - “the home way” https://www.loupe-magnifier.com/tungsten_finger_ring_removal_tool.htm https://www.loupe-magnifier.com/tungsten_finger_ring_removal... - “the professional way"
  - refurb 9y ago
    You can also do it using a pair of Vise-grips. Just adjust the tool so that the closed mouth is slightly smaller than the ring. The ring will break but not hurt the finger.
  - Steve44 9y ago
    Interesting thank you. I'm still not sure I'd go for one but it's not as bad as I'd thought providing they know what they are dealing with.
- VLM 9y ago
  My experience with metalworking indicates carbide endmills and inserts are incredibly brittle, slapping hand very hard against a brick (like high-fiving a brick wall) would probably shatter it. If you drop an endmill (like a drill bit but different, about the size of your thumb) from a normal carrying height to a concrete floor, you'll almost certainly be buying a new endmill; much like dropped buttered toast always seems to land butter side down, a dropped end mill always seems to land point down and crack a big chip off. A ring should be lighter so less stress, and smooth would imply no stress concentration points, but I'd still be careful about impacts or dropping it. Another anecdote is interrupted cuts on a metal lathe will shatter carbide seemingly instantly every time, you need to use "old fashioned" high speed steel to cut anything with a gap. I wonder if the vibration of taking a diamond tip engraver to a carbide ring would shatter the ring instantly. An interesting anecdote is a rather large lump of carbide for a replaceable indexable cutter is a couple bucks and a rod of carbide turned into a polished sharpened precision endmill of a large size is only maybe $30. Possibly the ring could cost more because that specific type of carbide looks very nice or has been stress relieved or annealed somehow to make it less brittle, and of course there's the labor time of a professional jeweler if its custom work. But the raw material, unlike gold or Pt, can't cost more than perhaps $100 for a carbide ring.
ajarmst 9y ago
Mine too! I thought it made a nice statement about permanence or something like that. I was young. :-)
eloff 9y ago
I got mine because it was just nerdy, and I liked the weight of it. Plus if I'm ever in a plane crash, I know at least a little bit of finger will survive.

Tossrock 9y ago

Carbide is hardly exotic. You can get < $20 drill bits made from it at your local hardware store.

lightedman 9y ago

"It's virtually indestructible and very few materials such as diamond can scratch it." Not really. It's a ceramic and as such will shatter if knocked against another ceramic, hardness notwithstanding. Also, for some reason, my skin eats away at it. See my tungsten carbide ring vs my fiance's ring (mine is on the left) - both made before the requirement that the rings come with break points built-in - https://i.imgur.com/fSIOUJf.jpg https://i.imgur.com/fSIOUJf.jpg Note the differences - his ring looks brand new. Both rings bought at the same time, same maker, same style. Mine's practically obliterated.

italophil 9y ago
It might not be your skin, but your skin care products. Some contain aluminium oxide or magnesium oxide. Both of these can oxide tungsten.
- lightedman 9y ago
  My skin care products are the exact same as what my fiance uses.
hwillis 9y ago
Note that your ring is not really representative of real tungsten carbide. WC is a sintered material so the amount of binder (cobalt) and the size and makeup of the WC powder is extremely important. Even among tungsten inserts there are types designed for continuous turning and types for interrupted turning, which have a much higher toughness. Toughness is what determines energy before breaking and note that while many ceramics are not at all tough, high end technical ceramics are tougher than most metals[1]. High quality WC is indeed tougher than steels. It's also twice as strong as most steel, but high-end steels surpass it in strength. [1]: http://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/news/research/news/110908-granta-design-chart.jpg http://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/news/research...
- lightedman 9y ago
  "Toughness is what determines energy before breaking" With ceramics and glass, things get a little tricky. You can take a relatively weak and softer piece of pottery ceramic and obliterate the hardened bullet-resistant windows on police cars (the laminate inbetween being a different matter, but the glass itself will shatter/crack.) That happens via ultrasonic frequencies created on impact.