Tungsten steel: alloy steel containing about 18% tungsten in the finished product. Tungsten steel is classified as cemented carbide, also known as tungsten titanium alloy. The hardness is Vickers 10K, second only to diamond. Because of this, tungsten steel products (the more common are tungsten steel watches) have the characteristics of not being easily worn. It is often used on lathe tools, impact drill bits, glass cutter bits, and tile cutters. It is strong and not afraid of annealing, but it is brittle.
Cemented carbide: attributed to the field of powder metallurgy. Cemented carbide, also known as cermet, is based on metal carbides (WC, TaC, TiC, NbC, etc.) or metal oxides (such as Al2O3, ZrO2, etc.) as the primary component, with an appropriate amount of metal powder (Co, Cr, Mo, Ni, Fe, etc.) made by powder metallurgy, ceramics with certain characteristics of metals. Cobalt (Co) is used to have a bonding effect in the alloy, that is, during the sintering process, it can surround and tightly bond the tungsten carbide (WC) powder together. After cooling, it becomes hard Alloy. (The effect is equivalent to cement in concrete). The content is usually: 3%-30% Tungsten carbide (WC) is the primary component that determines the properties of certain metals of this cemented carbide or cermet, accounting for 70%---97% of the total composition (weight ratio), widely used for wear resistance , High temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, harsh working environment parts or tools, tools on the cutter head.
Tungsten steel is classified as cemented carbide, but the cemented carbide is not always tungsten steel. Nowadays, customers in Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries like to use the term tungsten steel. If you talk to them in depth, you will find that most of them still refer to cemented carbide. alloy.
The difference between tungsten steel and cemented carbide is: also known as high-speed steel or tool steel. Tungsten steel is made by adding iron tungsten as tungsten material in molten steel with steelmaking technology. It is also known as high-speed steel or tool steel, and its tungsten content Usually 15-25%; while the cemented carbide is made by powder metallurgy technology with tungsten carbide as the main body and cobalt or other bonding metal sintered together, and its tungsten content is usually more than 80%. Simply put, everything with a hardness exceeding HRC65 can be called a cemented carbide as long as it is an alloy. Tungsten steel is just a kind of cemented carbide with a hardness between HRC85 and 92, which is often used to make knives.
