A family's day with Tungsten(28)

A family's day with Tungsten

Father and Son:

are working on a second bathroom. They feel, that with four family members, it is much too crowded in only one bathroom in the morning. They have selected stylish new tiles with a special glaze. The light reflecting effect of this tile was made by additions of Tungsten Oxide and Tungsten Metal to the glaze.

They cut the tiles, using a Cemented Carbide cutter.

 Working in the bathroom

WC-containing cemented carbide are used for tile cutting, hole drilling and circular knives.

After tiling, they have to drill some holes in the wall to apply the towel rack and a high board. Drilling the wall is done with Cemented Carbide tipped drills at a low rotational speed, but with ease, due to the hardness of the drill tip.

Then the whole family enjoys the evening.

A family's day with Tungsten(27)

A family's day with Tungsten

In the late afternoon the whole family meets again at home. Everyone is happy to be back. Mother tells about the good news from the spine inspection in the hospital. The father has made a successful presentation. The daughter quickly takes a shower, because she is still exhausted from the jogging exercise, while the son proudly reports about his high score in the darts club.

Mother and Daughter:

have bought last week new curtains for the living room. Now it is time to hang them up. Father didn’t like the idea of curtains in the living room, because there is a fireplace, which they use frequently, especially during the winter months, and he feared the danger of burning curtains. But Mother and Daughter can reassure him now, that there is no danger. These new curtains are fire proof because they are impregnated with Sodium Metatungstate.

A family's day with Tungsten(26)

A family's day with Tungsten

After school the daughter meets her girlfriends and they are doing some exercise by jogging. Weights on their hands and legs increase the efficiency of the training. These weights are made from Tungsten, making use of its high density.

The son meets his friends in a youth club and they are playing darts. Each of them is very eager to follow the example of their stars, the world champions. Therefore they are equipped with Tungsten darts. The high density allows a slim design and all three darts could be positioned into the bulls eye or triple 20 if needed.

playing darts like the stars

Professional darts are made of tungsten heavy metal to stabilize the trajectory.

A family's day with Tungsten(25)

A family's day with Tungsten

In the ball pen Tungsten is ever present in the most important part - the ball of the pen. This ball is made from Cemented Carbide.

 ballpoint pens are made in the magnitude of several tens of billions

Such balls have a diameter of less than half a millimetre up to more than one millimetre. In Asia people like to write with finer lines, while in America they frequently use the big balls. Such a ball is a high precision part, with exactly the right surface roughness, to carry enough ink and to roll on the paper without sliding. It also has to be corrosion resistant to withstand the contact with the ink.

A family‘s day with Tungsten(24)

A family’s day with Tungsten

Some farmers are working in the forest and have cut trees and are now using a shredder to make wood chips from the remaining limbs. This shredder looks new and most probably uses Cemented Carbide knives, which drastically reduce the energy consumption and are by far more wear resistant than steel knives.

cemented carbide shredder knife

They reach their school and the son realizes that he has forgotten his pencil case. He is asking his sister for a ballpoint pen and a writing pad. Once again Tungsten is essential, as in the manufacture of paper, Tungsten coated rolls are and Cemented Carbide knives cut the sheets of the writing pad in such an accurate way.

A family’s day with Tungsten(23)

A family's day with Tungsten

Looking out of the train’s window, the children see an open pit coal mine and observe huge machines mining the coal. All the tools and the teeth of the shovels of the big baggers are made from wear resistant Cemented Carbide.

 Open pit coal mining, using most modern equipment

The train runs through a tunnel, which has been constructed only a few years ago. The children still remember the big tunnel construction machine, which was also equipped with Cemented Carbide.

 tungsten carbide button

A family's day with Tungsten(22)

A family's day with Tungsten

The son has to study for a test in physics and reads about the use of Tungsten in the first wall materials for unclear fusion reactors, which might contribute to energy generation in the future.

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

ITER is an international project to make fusion technology technically feasible; tungsten is considered as the best material to withstand the operating conditions in a nuclear fusion reactor divertor.

Interior view of ASDEX Upgrade in its final full tungsten configuration. The progressive year-byyear transition from a carbon configuration into a tungsten one has enabled insights to be gathered into tokamak operation with this plasma facing material. (Photo: IPP)

A family's day with Tungsten(21)

A family's day with Tungsten

Tracing back the electric current to its source, we come to a transformer station and finally to the power station. In each case we find high-performance switches made of Tungsten-Copper. In case of a caloric power plant, DENOX-catalysts clean the exhaust from Nitrogen Oxides. A similar technology as described for the modern trucks the father has seen in the morning, but on a much bigger scale. Vanadium and Tungsten Oxide on Titanium oxide is responsible for this beneficial chemical reaction.

 electric power plant

A family's day with Tungsten(20)

A family's day with Tungsten

We leave the mother at the golf course to have have a look at the children.

Daughter and Son:

They both left home after breakfast and use the train to go to school.

A new electric locomotive with several thousand horse power accelerates the train with ease. In the engine we find high voltage switches.

electric locomotive

Tungsten-copper arcing contacts are used for high performance switches with switching currents up to 100 kA.

Their contact zone consists of Tungsten-Copper parts, which are resistant to spark erosion. The engine gets the current from the overhead contact line, which has a special profile to withstand the high velocity at which the train is driving under the wire. For its manufacture Cemented Carbide drawing dyes are used and the same is true for all the wires we find in the engine. The thin copper sheet parts of the engine and the transformers were die cut by the use of Cemented Carbide tools.

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A family’s day with Tungsten

She takes a look on her watch, still time enough to enjoy golfing with her friends. This watch was a Christmas gift from her husband. He likes technics, so she got a highly scratch resistant watch made from Tungsten Carbide. It is a watch with mechanical movement and a Tungsten heavy alloy part for winding up the watch automatically.

Watch-making using advanced materials

watchcase and strap made of scratch-free cemented carbide tungsten heavy metal rotor used in automatic watches.

A family's day with Tungsten(18)

A family's day with Tungsten

She started to play golf only two years ago, but her handicap is already as low as 18 and, she is better than her husband although he started much earlier, but due to his professional career cannot spend so much time on the course. Moreover she is very happy with her new driver, which has given her a clear push in performance. This driver has some screws for fine tuning. They are made of Tungsten heavy alloy and give the extra drive.

 Playing golf – relax; using High – Tec

High – tec golf clubs (drivers) and balls contain parts of tungsten to improve stability and performance.

Last birthday her husband has given her special golf balls, which also contain Tungsten as a shell in the outer part inside the ball. These balls, when hit correctly, develop a fantastic spin, an advantage she won’t miss any longer. On such cold days when the ground is hard, she also likes the Cemented Carbide spikes on her golf shoes.

 golf ball

A family's day with Tungsten(17)

A family's day with Tungsten

After the drilling work, a Tungsten containing material is used in the fillings of the roots in order to inspect the proper filling afterwards. The Tungsten makes the filling visible on the X-ray image.

 How does an x-ray tube work?

Mother is happy that all the medical stuff is finished and she is happy that the weather became much better and she can meet with friends on the golf course.

A family's day with Tungsten(16)

A family's day with Tungsten

Still reading and contemplating how mysterious nature is, she hears her name. She sits in the dentist’s chair and the dentist explains that some drilling will be required as a root canal treatment is necessary. A set of new drill is used by the dentist, most of them made from fine grained extremely sharp edged Cemented Carbide. Less friction is less heat and less pain for the patient.

 Root canal treatment at the dentist

Tungsten carbide is the main constituent in cemented carbide used for dental drilling.

 

A family's day with Tungsten(15)

A family's day with Tungsten

After the X-ray she has to wait some time in the waiting room, where she finds some scientific journals. The dentist is obviously very interested in science and wants to give his patients a chance to read about the newest research while waiting for their treatment. Curiously enough she finds an article about the role of Tungsten in the generation of early life.

According to this article it can be assumed that Tungsten plays an important role in enzymes necessary for bacteria having lived near submarine volcanic vents at elevated temperatures. Later on in evolution, the Tungsten was substituted by Molybdenum. Today we only can find Tungsten as an essential element in anaerobic bacteria. This seems to be a leftover from ancient times, because the aforementioned cells also lived under the exclusion of Oxygen.

A family's day with Tungsten(14)

A family's day with Tungsten

 

This is really good news, as immediately after the visit at the hospital, she has a date at her dentist. The last date was six months ago and therefore the first thing is to make a panorama X-ray of all teeth.

 Making of a panorama X-ray at the dentist

Tungsten anodes are used in the x-ray machine; modern aprons are filled with tungstenpowder; calcium tungstate is still used as fluorescent material in x-ray films.

Once again we find Tungsten anodes in the X-ray machine but additionally she has to wear now a protective apron, which is very heavy – “oh Lead”, she says, but the dentist tells her that due to environmental reasons this apron is made of Tungsten powder dispersed in latex, which equally protects against the radiation and is eco friendly. He also tells her that at the backside of the X-ray film there is a Tungsten containing layer to protect the fingers of the patient from radiation when making the image. The film itself contains Calcium Tungstate as fluorescent to convert X-rays into visible light, which is recorded on the film.

calcium tungstate

A family's day with Tungsten(13)

A family’s day with Tungsten

 

Mother:

After breakfast with the children, mother leaves the home by car and drives to the hospital. Today she has a CT (computer tomography) inspection of her spine, where she constantly suffers from pain. She has these pains for months and is really happy, that she was able to fix this date at the hospital as their new computer tomograph is always occupied and it is not easy to get plugged in.

 CT(computer tomography)

The computer tomography is a medical instrument which produces 3-dimensional X-ray images of the area in question. Several X-ray tubes are contained. In such an X-ray tube we find an electron gun whose electrode is made of Tungsten and furthermore a rotating anode also made of Tungsten or a Tungsten-Rhenium alloy. The shielding of the whole machine is done by Tungsten heavy metal (as a replacement for Lead, which was used in earlier days).

 Tungsten electrode

Fortunately enough, the doctor indicated to her that nothing serious could be detected and she most probably only has to train her brace muscles to get rid of the pain.

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A family's day with Tungsten

He is tired and wants to take a nap, but the presentation for the business meeting needs to be refined. So he opens his bag and looks for the laptop. Some music from the iPod will make the burden of working less hard. All these electronic devices contain printed circuit boards. During the production cycle, these circuit boards are brought in shape by the use of Cemented Carbide routers and drilled with Cemented Carbide micro drills, sometimes not larger than 0.1 mm in diameter.

 Carbide tools for PCB (printed circuit board) machining and the latest generation of micro drills in comparison to a paper clip and a lead refill

 cemented carbide micro drills

These drills are operated at rpm’s up to 350,000 and drill several thousand holes in the highly abrasive boards. The integrated circuit chips in these electronic devices use Tungsten as conducting plug or wire and Tungsten Silicide as gate material. Also displays used in the equipment need Tungsten-Molybdenum alloys for production.

Finally we hope the father managed to refine his presentation and had a good and successful business day.

A family's day with Tungsten(11)

A family's day with Tungsten

 

The turbines start to howl, he is pressed into his seat and soon the plane is airborne. Looking out of the window he can see the flaps and the aileron working. Counterweights made from Tungsten heavy metal ensure that the force needed to operate the flaps stays within reasonable limits.

Balancing flaps and aileron in modern airplanes (indicated by arrows)

the weights are made of a tungsten heavy metal alloy; up to 850kg of counterweights are used in a Boeing 747.

tungsten alloy counterweights

A family's day with Tungsten(10)

A family's day with Tungsten

 

His seat is close to the wing and he can see the turbines. The turbine blades in the high temperature zone of the engines are made of Tungsten containing superalloys.

tungsten alloy combustion chamber of turbo engines

It is a brand new airplane. Energy saving considerations lead to the utilization of the most advanced materials. For the construction of the wing shell and the outer part of the cell, carbon fibre reinforced plastics were used. To cut these materials in shape, polycrystalline Diamond on Tungsten Carbide inserts are used. The main wing spar and the landing gear are made from Titanium alloys, which only can be machined by the use of the most sophisticated Cemented Carbide tools.

 

 cemented carbide inserts

A family's day with Tungsten(9)

A family's day with Tungsten

 

Now he is close to the cargo center at the airport. Several modern trucks are driving on the lane beside him. A label on these trucks indicates that they are equipped with the most modern equipment for emission reduction. DENOX catalysts reduce the nitrogen oxide concentration in the exhaust considerably and are made from a Tungsten containing ceramic.

 SCR-catalysts for automotive application to lower NOx-emissions

the honey-comb-formed catalyst contains tungsten oxide and is part of the silencer system, together with a urea tank and an injection control system.

 

After arrival at the airport and check in, he enters the aircraft.

A family's day with Tungsten(8)

A family's day with Tungsten

The jam is over and the traffic is flowing once again, but it is very cold and starts to snow. He is happy to have his 4-wheel drive car and remembers that his brother in law, who lives in Finland, is obliged to use tires with studs during winter time. These tire-studs are made of cemented carbide and use the outstanding hardness and abrasion resistance of Tungsten Carbide to prevent the cars from skidding on icy road.

Hardmetal tire studs are used in the northern countries to increase safety during driving on snow and ice-covered lanes.

A family's day with Tungsten(7)

A family's day with Tungsten

He had almost reached the airport when there was a traffic jam. He got up early enough, so there is no danger to miss the plane. Therefore he is not too much stressed and can observe the road construction, which is reduced to two lanes and which is the reason for the jam. Huge road planning machines remove a certain layer from the deformed and partly broken road surface. The cut off material leaves the machine via conveyor belt and is loaded to a truck for recycling. Cemented carbide chisels made from Tungsten Carbide inside the machine are doing their duty.

Road construction work

Cold milling machines, equipped with tungsten carbide road chisels, remove the damaged paving to the required thickness; the reclaimed Asphalt pavement can then be reused.

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A family's day with Tungsten

He leaves the side street and enters the motor way. Another driver nearly collides with him, he blows the horn and the other car brakes hard. (It is early in the morning, some others obviously still sleep even on the road.) The horn is really loud and a lot of electric current is flowing. Such a horn needs special contacts be switched- they are made of pure Tungsten.

 

 Blowing the horn of a car

tungsten runs across us in everyday life when strong currents are switched; the best known example is the car horn; however, safety switches also contain tungsten.

 

When driving on the motor way he is happy to have this self darkening mirror to avoid being dazzled by the cars behind him. A thin layer of Tungsten bronze on the glass is responsible for the darkening.