What is tungsten carbide? Tungsten is an element that is fused with other supplies to turn into the alloy tungsten carbide. The addition of other metals makes the tungsten carbide harder and much more scratch resistant than tungsten alone. This alloy course of action is related to the approach that iron goes by means of to come to be steel. Tungsten carbide has been utilized in mechanical and industrial applications for lots of years, and lately has found new life as the longest lasting jewelry material known to man.
Manufacturing:
Tungsten is ground into a powder and mixed with other metals such as niobium, tantalum, titanium, chromium, and nickel. The metals are then fused together in an oxygen zero cost furnace, inside a die-cast, at more than 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Interestingly sufficient, the tungsten itself by no means melts and mixes with the other metals.
Because tungsten has such an really high melting point, it can only be heated high sufficient to "sinter", or adhere and bond to, the other metals. The nickel within the mixture is referred to as the "binder", as it assists with the bonding method. Within mechanical and industrial applications, the binder for tungsten carbide is cobalt, but this is not implemented by respected jewelry manufacturers as it causes oxidation. When the tungsten carbide has been sintered into a ring blank, the cutting and shaping begins.
Tungsten carbide is too difficult of a material to be worked like all other sorts of metals made use of in the jewelry industry and can not be welded, soldered, or bent. The only way to shape a ring is to start with a rough-cut piece of it, and start utilizing heavy industrial machining, lathe work, and hand polishing to produce these captivating pieces of jewelry. This metal is so quite hard, that most of the grinding and polishing machines implemented to shape the jewelry are diamond-tipped. The outcome of all of this effort is a piece of jewelry with spectacular luster that lasts for decades, or longer.
Positive aspects:
Tungsten wedding bands are by far the longest lasting pieces of jewelry ever created. This metal is literally the hardest material that you can buy on a retail level. This sharp increase in hardness equates to the elimination of the most prevalent forms of jewelry harm scratching, scuffing, warping, and bending. Also, tungsten carbide wedding bands are produced in a new style of fitting, identified as comfort fit. This means that the interior of the ring is a round dome, instead of the regular flat interior. Other sorts of jewelry are created with flat interiors to let for stretching or swaging the ring into a new size conveniently.
Because tungsten carbide rings are far too challenging to be re-sized, there is no need to have to leave the interior of the ring much less comfy and flat. Maintain in mind that the inability of tungsten wedding rings to be resized individually is important to consider when picking a jewelry enterprise. You certainly want to decide on a business that has a definitely cost-free lifetime sizing and lifetime warranty that presents a replacement ring in the occasion you need to have a numerous sized ring. A single caveat, several firms claim "lifetime sizing and lifetime warranty", having said that these organisations also charge sizing fees and deductibles. Customers should really pick out a jewelry provider that gives really free of charge lifetime sizing and lifetime warranty.
Tungsten carbide bands also have a few other attributes that men seem to appreciate. The very first is the weight. Tungsten carbide is a rather dense material, and is as a result heavier than any other regular jewelry material. This added weight gives the ring a feeling of substance and ruggedness. Secondly, men and women alike tend to enjoy the coloring of tungsten carbide wedding bands. The high polish finish reflects both pictures and light, comparable to polished chrome. A number of tungsten wedding rings also have a brushed finish applied. This sort of finish will still reflect a single point of light, but has a textured appear that will not reflect images, yet it remains an desirable accent to the high polish finish.
