Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Tungsten component produced by 3D printing using electron beam melting. (Photo: Markus Breig, KIT)
Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals, 3,422 degrees Celsius. This makes the material ideal for use at high temperatures in e.g. space rocket nozzles, heating elements of high-temperature furnaces, or the fusion reactor. However, the metal is highly brittle and, hence, difficult to process. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed an innovative approach to making this brittle material soft. To process tungsten, they have determined new process parameters for electron beam melting.
Tungsten is a metal with very attractive properties: It is corrosion-resistant and as heavy as gold. In the form of tungsten carbide, it is as hard as diamond. And it has the highest melting point of all metals, 3,422 degrees Celsius. However, the metal is highly brittle at room temperature. Due to its properties, tungsten is dif