Tungsten beads are spherical particles made of high-purity metallic tungsten. They combine high density, ultra-high melting point, excellent chemical stability, good radiation shielding ability, and controllable mechanical properties, making them indispensable in applications such as military defense, aerospace, nuclear energy industry, high-end manufacturing, and medical equipment.
I. Physical Properties: Extreme Density and High Melting Point
The most significant characteristic of tungsten beads is their extremely high density, approximately 19.3 g/cm3, comparable to gold. This allows them to possess a large mass within a very small volume, making them ideal materials for manufacturing high-density kinetic energy penetrators, counterweights, and vibration damping components. Simultaneously, tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals, reaching 3410°C. This allows tungsten beads to maintain their shape and structural integrity even in ultra-high temperature environments, making them widely used in heating elements and supports in vacuum high-temperature furnaces, as well as high-temperature components in spacecraft.
II. Chemical Properties: Excellent Stability and Corrosion Resistance
Tungsten is chemically stable, exhibiting excellent corrosion resistance to water, alkaline solutions, and most inorganic acids at room temperature. Especially at high temperatures, a dense protective oxide film forms on its surface, further enhancing its oxidation resistance. This superior chemical inertness allows tungsten beads to operate stably in harsh chemical environments and high-temperature plasmas, making them commonly used in corrosion-resistant components, electrode materials, and semiconductor processing equipment in the chemical industry.
III. Mechanical and Radiation Protection Properties
Tungsten has high hardness and strength, especially excellent high-temperature strength, but pure tungsten beads are relatively brittle. Its plasticity can be significantly improved through alloying (e.g., doping with small amounts of potassium, silicon, and aluminum oxides to form a non-drooping tungsten wire structure) or by using powder metallurgy. Furthermore, tungsten's high density and atomic number (74) give it superior shielding capabilities against X-rays and gamma rays, with a shielding efficiency far exceeding that of lead. It is an irreplaceable environmentally friendly protective material in medical devices (such as CT collimators), nuclear radiation shielding, and nuclear fuel storage tanks.
IV. Derivative Properties in Applications
Based on the fundamental properties, tungsten beads also exhibit other key characteristics in specific applications. For example, as spherical projectiles, they possess excellent aerodynamic shape and strong penetration power; in the industrial field, the uniform spherical particles ensure good flowability and density in powder metallurgy and thermal spraying processes; as an additive, they can significantly improve the density and shielding performance of composite materials or polymer materials (such as medical rubber used for radiation protection).
