HISTORY OF TUNGSTEN

The name Tungsten came from the other important tungsten ore, which is now
called scheelite. In 1750, this heavy mineral was discovered in the Bispbergs
iron mine in the Swedish province Dalecarlia. The first person who mentioned
the mineral was Axel Frederik Cronstedt in 1757, who called it Tungsten
{composed of the two Swedish words tung (heavy) and sten (stone)}.
In 1781, the outstanding Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele published the
results of his experiments on the mineral tungsten in Kongl. The Constituents of
Tungsten. In this work he demonstrated that the mineral contains lime and a still
unknown acid, which he called tungstic acid.
Discoverer of tungsten: Juan Jos de DElhuyar and Fausto Jermin
In 1781/1782, the Spanish nobleman, Juan Jos de DElhuyar studied
metallurgical chemistry with Prof Bergman and gathered information about the
work on the mineral tungsten. Back to Spain in 1783, Juan Jos analyzed a
wolfram species from a tin mine in Zinnwald/Saxony, and showed it to be an iron
and manganese salt of a new acid. He also concluded that wolfram contained
the same acid as Scheele had gained from tungsten.
His discovery, jointly with his brother Fausto Jermin, was published in 1783 by
the Royal Society of Friends of the Country in the City of Victoria. The new metal
was named VOLFRAM after the mineral used for analysis.
ORIGIN OF TUNGSTEN:
Composed of the two Swedish words tung (heavy) and sten (stone) or heavy stone.
TUNSTEN RESOURCES
PRIMARY RESOURCES (CONCENTRATE)
China is the major producer of tungsten. The other principal producing countries
are Austria, Bolivia, Canada, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Thailand and several
countries in Africa.
SECONDARY RESOURCES (SCRAP)
Scrap recycling is an important factor in the worlds tungsten supply. It is
estimated that today some 35% is recycled, and the tungsten processing industry
is able to treat almost every kind of tungsten-containing scrap and waste to
recover tungsten and, if present, other valuable constituents. Tungsten scrap,
due to its high tungsten content in comparison to ore, is a valuable raw material.
MINING TUNGSTEN
Tungsten is usually mined underground. Scheelite and/or wolframite are
frequently located in narrow veins which are slightly inclined and often widen with
the depth. Open pit mines exist but are rare.
The ore is first crushed and milled to liberate the tungsten mineral crystals.
Scheelite ore can be concentrated by gravimetric methods, often combined with
froth flotation, wolframite ore can be concentrated by gravity (spirals, cones,
tables), sometimes in combination with magnetic separation
Modern processing methods dissolve scheelite and wolframite concentrates by
an alkaline pressure digestion, using either a soda or a concentrated NaOH
solution. The sodium tungstate solution obtained is purified by precipitation and
filtration, before it is converted into an ammonium tungstate solution. This stage
is carried out exclusively by solvent extraction or ion exchange resins. Finally,
high purity Ammonium-Paratungstate (APT) is obtained by crystallization.
Wolframite concentrates can also be smelted directly with charcoal or coke in an
electric arc furnace to produce ferrotungsten (FeW) which is used as alloying
material in steel production. Pure scheelite concentrate may also be added
directly to molten steel.
TUNGSTEN PROPETIES
Tungsten and Wolfram are the names given to element 74 of Mendeleev's Periodic
Table of the Chemical Elements. Its chemical symbol is W. Tungsten has the highest
melting point of all metals (3,422 15C). Its boiling point of about 5,700C corresponds
to the surface of the sun. With its density of 19.25g/cm
3
, tungsten is also among the
heaviest metals.
PRIMARY USES OF TUNGSTEN
Cemented carbides, also called hardmetals, are the most important usage of tungsten
today. The main constituent is tungsten monocarbide (WC), which has hardness close
to diamond. Hardmetal tools are the workhorses for the shaping of metals, alloys,
wood, composites, plastics and ceramics, as well as for the mining and construction
industries.
Tungsten remains an important partner for tool steels, high speed steels, stellites and
creep-resistant steels and alloys.
Tungsten mill products are either tungsten metal products, such as lighting filaments,
electrodes, electrical and electronic contacts, wires, sheets, rods etc. or tungsten alloys.