• jimbolauski
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    1 month ago

    Rocket nozzles are commonly made of tungsten, there are more than a few manufacturers in the US. Drill bits can be made of tungsten carbide. Armor piercing weapons use tungsten too. All of these have industries in the US.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Drill bits are coated in tungsten carbide. Sometimes. There are a variety of coatings.

      The drill bits you’re buying at the big box store are high speed still with some kind of coating to help them last a little longer. The specialty drill bits you’re buying for working on metal are also HSS with a different coating and probably different tip geometry.

      End mills are milling/lathe inserts can be HSS or carbide, also with some tungsten coating. Importantly, these are sintered, and made out of dust.

      Tungsten carbide is waaaay too brittle to work as a drill bit.

      • jimbolauski
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        1 month ago

        The company I worked for made tungsten nozzles, they had to be welded using atomic hydrogen welding. One day a bottle of hydrogen shows up and receiving rejected it, we had the supplier label it protium and it went right through.