Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
"Cliff" wrote in message
...
I never considered it a metal. I know better.

Cliff:

Perhaps an olive branch, here. Tungsten carbide, the compound, is
not a metal, although it manifests many of the properties of metals.
Technically speaking, it's a ceramic, averaging out about 1:1,
atom-to-atom, Wolfram to Carbon.

However, tungsten carbide _tooling_ is an alloy or solution of the
compound and metal (usually cobalt). Just as carbon is not a true
metal (yet manifests a number of metal-like properties), I think we
can all accept a solution of carbon and iron as being one of the more
familiar metals.

It may be that pure WxCx is used in tooling, but I cannot remember
seeing that. I believe it's too brittle in that form to be useful.


It's in use as a coating on milling and turning tools.

--
John R. Carroll
Machining Solution Software, Inc.
Los Angeles San Francisco
www.machiningsolution.com