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How it comparesTungsten vs tungsten carbide: one is an element, one is a compound
In tungsten vs tungsten carbide, the difference is chemistry: tungsten is a metal element, and tungsten carbide is tungsten bonded to carbon, a hard compound usually held together with cobalt. A scale and a cup of water will usually tell you which one you have, and if you have a pile of either, send us photos.
Is tungsten carbide the same as tungsten?
No. Tungsten, chemical symbol W, is a metal element. Tungsten carbide, written WC, is a compound of tungsten and carbon in a fixed ratio: stoichiometric WC is 6.13% carbon by weight, and it is a line compound that barely strays from that formula.
On its own, WC behaves like a ceramic. A 2022 paper ranks its hardness alongside alumina and silicon carbide, and a 2024 paper calls it a conductive ceramic. Pure WC also has low fracture resistance and low bending strength, so a metal binder goes in with it.
That blend is cemented carbide, also sold as hardmetal or simply carbide: WC grains held in cobalt, nickel or iron. ITIA's typical straight grade is 90% WC and 10% cobalt, the carbide giving hardness and the cobalt toughness. It is the material in a carbide drill or insert.
Sources: NIST, X-ray attenuation tables (Table 1); ITIA, properties and intermediates; Materials Science-Poland 41(1), 2023; OSTI 1981641 (2022 paper); Materials (Basel) 2024, EDM of WC-6Co; Materials (Basel) 2024 review; ITIA, Cemented carbides (newsletter excerpt, June 2010); ITIA, applications and markets.
Difference between tungsten and tungsten carbide: the numbers
Tungsten metal is heavier and melts hotter; tungsten carbide is far harder and stiffer.
| Tungsten (W) | Tungsten carbide (WC) | Cemented carbide (WC-Co) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A metal element | Tungsten plus carbon, 6.13% carbon by weight | WC grains in a metal binder, typically 90% WC and 10% cobalt |
| Density | 19.25 g/cm3 (ITIA); 19.30 (NIST) | 15.6 g/cm3 (NTP); 15.68 (NIST, model value) | About 13.1 (about 19% cobalt) to 15.17 (3.7% cobalt) for straight grades; steel-cutting P grades 8.5 to 13.4 |
| Melting point | 3,422 °C, the highest of all metals | About 2,785 to 2,800 °C (2,785 per NTP; a 2022 paper gives 2,800) | Not melted: a 2022 paper gives liquid-phase sintering at 1,370 to 1,425 °C, below the melting points of WC and of pure cobalt (1,495 °C) |
| Vickers hardness | 300 to 650 HV30 | 1,800 to 2,000 HV (kgf/mm2) | About 800 to 2,800 HV10 across grades |
| Elastic modulus | 390 to 410 GPa | 705 GPa (NIST, model value) | 561 to 585 GPa in four 10 to 12% cobalt grades |
| How it is made | Ore concentrate to APT, then oxide, then metal powder reduced in hydrogen; mill products such as sinter bars, rod and wire | Tungsten powder and carbon black heated at 1,300 to 2,200 °C in hydrogen | WC and cobalt powders milled, pressed and sintered at 1,350 to 1,550 °C (NTP) |
| Typical uses | Filaments, wires, electrodes, heating elements, electrical contacts, sputtering targets | Powder for cemented carbide; fused with tungsten metal into cast carbide for surface hardening | Cutting tools (about 70% of hard metal) and wear parts (about 30%): inserts, drills, end mills, rock tools, wire-drawing dies |
The softest grade on ITIA's carbide scale, about 800 HV10, already sits above the top of tungsten metal's 300 to 650 HV30 range, and WC itself works out to roughly 3 to 7 times the metal's figure, though the tests differ.
Carbide figures move with the grade: more cobalt makes it lighter, tougher and less hard.
Sources: ITIA, properties and intermediates; NIST, X-ray attenuation tables (Table 1); NTP, Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide; NIST ceramics data portal: WC (Reeber and Wang, 1999); OSTI 2376169 (2023); ORNL manuscript, OSTI 1607097; NTP background document on hard metals (2010); ITIA Newsletter, December 2007; Materials (Basel) 2022, WC-Co sintering; OSTI 1981641 (2022 paper); ITIA, Cemented carbides (newsletter excerpt, June 2010); ITIA, applications and markets; USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028; USGS Circular 1196-R (tungsten), 2011; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: tungsten.
How tungsten becomes tungsten carbide
Tungsten carbide is made from tungsten metal, so the two share one supply chain until near the end. Most ore concentrate is processed chemically into ammonium paratungstate (APT), the main traded tungsten raw material. Heating APT gives tungsten oxide, which is reduced in hydrogen to tungsten metal powder; ITIA gives 700 to 1,000 °C for rotary furnaces.
At the powder the road forks. Powder of typically 2 to 6 µm goes into tungsten metal products and alloys. The main portion is mixed with carbon black and heated at 1,300 to 2,200 °C in hydrogen to become WC powder, which is then milled with cobalt, pressed and sintered at 1,350 to 1,550 °C.
The fork is lopsided. In Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, USGS estimates that about 60% of the tungsten consumed in the US in 2025 went into cemented carbide parts; the rest went into alloys and specialty steels, electrodes, filaments and wires, and chemicals.
Sources: USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028; ITIA, properties and intermediates; ITIA, Cemented carbides (newsletter excerpt, June 2010); NTP background document on hard metals (2010); USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: tungsten.
How to tell tungsten from tungsten carbide in your hand
Weigh the piece against its size: density separates these materials better than anything you can see. Pure tungsten reads about 19.25 to 19.3 g/cm3. Straight WC-Co grades read about 13.1 at around 19% cobalt up to about 15.2 at low cobalt, and WC itself about 15.6 to 15.7. A reading of 16 to 18.5 points to tungsten heavy alloy.
A reading near 19 rules out cemented carbide. Every binder on file is lighter than WC (cobalt 8.900 g/cm3, nickel 8.902, iron 7.874), so no blend of them can outweigh WC itself. A light reading proves less, because NTP lists representative steel-cutting P grades from 8.5 to 13.4 g/cm3.
For the water test, weigh the piece in air, then hanging fully under water, and divide the air weight by the weight it lost; water is roughly 1 g/cm3, so that ratio is the density. A 100 g piece of tungsten loses about 5.2 g under water, while 100 g of a 6% cobalt grade (14.91 g/cm3) loses about 6.7 g, so a scale that reads to 0.1 g tells them apart. The density check does the sum.
Treat the number as a strong hint. ASTM B311, the water-displacement method for cemented carbides, warns that two constituents can offset each other and give the expected density with the wrong composition.
Then look at the part. Carbide comes as inserts, drills, end mills, dies and rock bit buttons, and more than 80% of turning inserts are coated; a TiN top coat is gold-colored. Tungsten metal comes as wire, filament, electrodes, heating elements and contacts.
Sources: ITIA, properties and intermediates; NIST, X-ray attenuation tables (Table 1); OSTI 2376169 (2023); ORNL manuscript, OSTI 1607097; NTP background document on hard metals (2010); NTP, Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide; NIST ceramics data portal: WC (Reeber and Wang, 1999); Materials (Basel) 2020, tungsten heavy alloy; ITIA Newsletter, December 2007; USGS Water Science School: water density; ASTM B311-22; ITIA, Cemented carbides (newsletter excerpt, June 2010); ITIA, Recycling of tungsten products, part 1; USGS Circular 1196-R (tungsten), 2011.
Tungsten heavy alloy: the third one people mix up
Tungsten heavy alloy sits between the other two and is neither. It is generally 80 to 98% tungsten by weight, held with nickel and iron or nickel and copper, and ITIA also lists cobalt as an addition. Every ingredient is a metal, so it is an alloy, not a carbide.
Heavy alloys were developed for high density with excellent machining properties. Sintered pieces typically come in at 16 to 18 g/cm3, and ITIA gives up to 18.5; a 2021 study's 91% tungsten, 6% nickel, 3% cobalt alloy measured exactly its theoretical 17.46.
Its uses tell you where it comes from: counterweights, radiation shielding, ammunition, vibration damping and heat sinks. Most new heavy-alloy scrap is high-quality turnings, with powders, floor sweeps and rejected parts behind it.
One more name confuses things. ITIA notes that high-speed steels are often simply called tungsten steels; they carry 1.5 to 20% tungsten in a steel, so they are neither tungsten metal nor carbide. Carbide vs HSS covers that pair.
Sources: Materials (Basel) 2021, tungsten heavy alloys; ITIA, applications and markets; USGS Circular 1196-R (tungsten), 2011; ITIA Newsletter, December 2005; Materials (Basel) 2020, tungsten heavy alloy; ITIA Newsletter, December 2007; Materials (Basel) 2021, W-Ni-Co heavy alloy; ITIA, Tungsten in Steel (newsletter excerpt, December 2008).
Selling tungsten, heavy alloy or carbide
All three carry tungsten, and the metal moves between them. In one ITIA example, a scrapped carbide drill is recycled chemically for its tungsten and cobalt, the tungsten goes into a heavy alloy, and "tungsten from a scrapped drill becomes part of a counterweight."
We buy carbide in any form, and we also buy exotic metals and alloys, tungsten metal and heavy alloy among them. On the quote form, tick what you have, give a rough weight and add photos; a water-test reading goes in the notes. Rod ends, heavy-alloy weights and worn inserts can ship to us from any state with the shipping paid by us, or we collect from any city in California, Arizona and Nevada. We pay cash where state law allows it; selling tungsten carbide has the rest.
Sources: ITIA Newsletter, May 2018.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between tungsten and tungsten carbide?
Tungsten is a metal element. Tungsten carbide is tungsten bonded to carbon, a compound much harder and stiffer than the metal, lighter, and with a lower melting point. In tools it is held in cobalt as cemented carbide.
Is tungsten carbide harder than tungsten?
Yes. Even the softest carbide grade in the table above sits over the top of tungsten metal's Vickers range, though the two figures come from different test loads. The trade is toughness: pure WC has low fracture resistance, which is why tools hold it in a cobalt binder, and more binder buys toughness at the cost of hardness.
Is tungsten steel the same as tungsten carbide?
No. High-speed steel (HSS) is often simply called tungsten steel. It is a steel that carries some tungsten, so it is neither a carbide nor tungsten metal; carbide vs HSS compares the two.
Do you buy tungsten metal and heavy alloy, or only carbide?
Both. Carbide in any form is our focus, and we also buy exotic metals and alloys, pure tungsten and heavy alloy included. Send photos and a rough weight through the quote form or to help@carbidebuyerus.com.
Have tungsten carbide to sell?
Tell us what form it is in and about how much it weighs, and add a few photos. Ship it from any state and we pay the shipping, or we pick up anywhere in California, Arizona and Nevada.