Copper-Tungsten Electrodes and Their Properties

IRVINE, Calif. - Feb. 18, 2014 - PRLog -- 1.      Element I: tungsten

Tungsten is a metallic element denoted by symbol W and has atomic number 74. This element was first identified as a new element in the year 1781 and as an isolated element in 1783. This is a hard and rare chemical element which is also referred to as wolfram. With atomic number 74, tungsten metal has two primary ores that are called wolframite and scheelite. Since this element is not found in its isolated state, it is extracted from these ores by various techniques and procedures.

2.      Physical properties of tungsten

·         Tungsten is a lustrous looking metallic element which has the highest melting point among all the other elements and is very dense as well.

·         Tungsten metal has high tensile strength and low vapor pressure.

·         It is extremely resistant to corrosion and has no toxicity.

·         Tungsten metal has low coefficient of thermal expansion.

3.      Element II: copper

Copper is a chemical element which is denoted by symbol Cu and has atomic number 29. This is an extremely ductile metal which has high thermal conductivity. It is a conductor of heat as well as conductivity and in pure form, it is soft and malleable. It is used as constituent of many alloys and is used as a building material quite often.

4.      Physical properties of copper

·         Copper is a reddish orange colored chemical element which is not very hard in its pure form and has high ductility.

·         It has high thermal and electrical conductivity and the metallic bonds in copper lack a covalent character and is thus relatively weak.

·         Copper does not react with water and has 29 isotopes.

·         Copper is widely used to make copper wires, cables, electric motors, in architecture, in several electronic products and also has antimicrobial applications.

5.       What are Copper-tungsten electrodes?

Copper and tungsten alloy is a pseudo alloy of tungsten and copper. Since copper and tungsten are not mutually soluble, their microstructure is a metal matrix composite rather than a true alloy. When copper and tungsten are combined, the resultant material gets the properties of the individual elements. Thus what is obtained is a heat-resistant, thermally and electrically conductive and ablation-resistant material. This material is thus used for a variety of applications, of which one is use as copper-tungsten electrode.

Copper-tungsten electrodes are used for electrical discharge machining and electrochemical machining as well. These electrodes are used for the mentioned purposes, due to the following properties and benefits:

·         They are wear-resistant and can be thus used for a long period of time.

·         They offer optimum contour sharpness.

·         These electrodes are extremely easy to work with and offer high-level of efficiency.

·         They are very conductive as far as thermal and electrical conductivity is concerned and this is one of the primary reasons that this mixture is used for making electrodes.

·         Due to high melting point of tungsten, copper-tungsten electrodes have considerably longer service time or life.

·         High surface quality of copper-tungsten electrodes makes them very useful.

·         Another reason why copper-tungsten electrodes are so common is because they offer very good machinability.

By Stanford Materials  http://stanfordmaterials.com/

Stanford Materials Corporation is a worldwide supplier of various oxides, metals, alloys, advanced ceramic materials, and minerals. It was established in 1994 to supply high quality rare earth products to our customers in the research and development fields. To meet increasing demands for rare earth products and other materials, Stanford Materials now carries a variety of materials to serve not only our customers in research and development but also manufacturers in the ceramic, metallurgy and electronic industries. Stanford Materials carries both technical grade materials for industries as well as high purity chemicals (up to 99.99999%) for research institutes.