Chemical Analysis of Tungsten Carbide Ball

Making spectrographic chemical analysis of Tungsten Carbide can be difficult and uncertain, so the accepted procedure is to use a magnetic permascopic evaluation. If anyone tells you that they can analyze tungsten carbide to an exact figure, ask them for the error budget on their process. If they know the uncertainty, it will be in percentage points.

The same exactness of chemistry and physical properties in tungsten carbide that are experienced with alloy metals cannot be expected, as T.C. is made from a physical mixture of a pure metal powder and a powdered ceramic. There will naturally be more variability in performance.

The stiffness or Young's modulus of elasticity given for Tungsten Carbide has been measured in tension, but balls are almost always used in compression. In our experience, the Young's modulus of elasticity of cemented tungsten carbide is actually 10% higher in compression than it is in tension.