Tungsten and diamond have significant differences in hardness, durability and appearance. Diamond, an allotrope of pure carbon, is the hardest known material, ideal for jewelry and industrial cutting tools. Tungsten, however, known for its extreme durability and high melting point, is widely used in electrical applications and heavy tools. It is less brilliant but more affordable than diamond.
Diamond, also known as “unyielding”. It is a mineral composed of carbon elements and is an allotropic form of carbon.
Diamond is the hardest natural substance in nature. But when compared to carbides, which one has superior hardness? Let's discuss which is harder, tungsten carbide or diamond.
Many people are aware that tungsten carbide is hard. Products processed with tungsten carbide greatly increase their hardness, durability and wear resistance.
Many people do not have a strong concept about the hardness of different materials and only know that diamond is the hardest substance.
In fact, inflexible is just another name for diamond, so tungsten carbide is certainly not as hard as inflexible.
Although tungsten carbide is not as hard as diamond, its hardness is still exceptional.
Tungsten steel (hard alloy) has high hardness, wear resistance, good strength and toughness, heat resistance, corrosion resistance and a series of excellent properties, especially its high hardness and wear resistance, which remain practically unchanged even at 500℃ and still maintain high hardness at 1000℃.
Tungsten carbide, with a Mohs hardness of about 9 to 9.5, is among the hardest substances. In comparison, the Mohs hardness of diamond is 10, with diamond hardness being the highest reference.
Although tungsten carbide is not as hard as diamond, some of its other physical parameters are much better than diamond. For example, its stiffness can reach twice that of steel, with a Young's modulus of around 530-700 GPa, which is also twice that of steel.
It is because of its high hardness and excellent other properties that tungsten carbide has found wide applications in areas such as aerospace, oil and natural gas, chemical engineering, fluid control and heavy machinery.
Diamond also has a wide range of uses such as crafts, industrial cutting tools and more. Graphite can form synthetic diamond under high temperature and high pressure.
Its industrial uses are also quite common, including geological and oil drilling diamonds, wire drawing diamond dies, abrasive diamonds, grinding diamonds, diamond glass knives, diamond indenter for hardness tester, craft diamonds and so on .
Tungsten Carbide Characteristics and Applications
Tungsten carbide is a product of powder metallurgy, created by sintering a compound of carbon and tungsten, both of high hardness and melting point, with binders such as cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo) and nickel (Ni).
Its hardness at room temperature can reach 78-82 HRC, and it can withstand high temperatures of 850-1000℃, with cutting speeds 4-10 times that of high-speed steel.
However, its impact strength and flexural strength are significantly lower than high-speed steel, making it less likely to be used as a solid tool.
Pure tungsten carbide is not commonly used. It appears as a black hexagonal crystal with a metallic luster and hardness close to diamond.
It conducts heat and electricity well, with a melting point of 2,870 ℃ and a boiling point of 6,000 ℃. It has a relative density of 15.63 at 18°C.
Tungsten carbide is insoluble in water, hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, but it dissolves easily in a mixture of nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid. When small amounts of metals such as titanium and cobalt are added to tungsten carbide, its brittleness decreases.
Tungsten carbide used to cut steel usually contains titanium carbide, tantalum carbide, or a mixture of both, to improve its blast resistance. Tungsten carbide is chemically stable.
In tungsten carbide, carbon atoms fill the gaps in the tungsten metal structure without disrupting the metal's original structure, forming an interstitial compound.
Tungsten carbide is suitable for high temperature machining and can be used to make cutting tools, structural materials for furnaces, jet engines, gas turbines, nozzles and more.
Tungsten vs Diamond: Which is Harder?
Diamond is harder than tungsten.
Tungsten, being the hardest metal, is second to diamond in hardness. The most significant feature of tungsten jewelry is its hardness, which is 10 times that of 10K gold, five times that of stainless steel, and four times that of titanium.
Tungsten as an alloy, also known as tungsten steel, has surprising hardness and stability, slightly less than diamond. If crafted well, tungsten jewelry will have a unique shine.
Anyone who has worn tungsten jewelry knows that the longer it is worn and the more it comes into contact with the skin, it not only prevents oxidation but also becomes brighter. Even when scratched with a knife or exposed to strong acids, tungsten rings will not show traces.
Tungsten Steel vs Diamond: Which is Harder?
Diamond is harder than tungsten steel.
Tungsten steel, also known as carbide or tungsten titanium alloy, can reach a hardness of 89-95 HRA. Because of this, tungsten steel products (generally tungsten steel watches) are wear-resistant, hard and resistant to annealing, but they are brittle.
The main components of hard alloys are tungsten carbide and cobalt, which constitute 99% of the total composition, with the remaining 1% being other metals, which is why it is also called tungsten steel.
Diamond is the hardest substance in nature, with an absolute hardness of 10,000-2500. It has a wide range of uses, such as crafts and industrial cutting tools.
Graphite can form synthetic diamonds under high temperature and pressure, and is also a valuable jewelry.
Diamond is a crystalline element made of carbon, formed under high pressure and high temperature deep in the earth. Refers to polished diamonds. A diamond is a colorless octahedral crystal made of pure carbon. It is composed of carbon atoms connected by four-valent bonds and is the hardest substance that exists in nature.
Because the CC bonds in diamonds are very strong and all valence electrons participate in the formation of covalent bonds, there are no free electrons, making diamonds very hard. The melting point is 6,900 degrees Fahrenheit, the flash point is 720-800 in pure oxygen and 850-1000 in air, and they do not conduct electricity.
Distribution of diamond production
Diamonds are produced all over the world and more than 30 countries have diamond resources, with an annual production of around 100 million carats. The top five countries in terms of production are Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Russia and South Africa.
These five countries account for around 90% of world diamond production. Other diamond producing countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Angola, Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, India, China, Canada and others.
The main diamond cutting centers in the world are Antwerp in Belgium, Tel Aviv in Israel, New York in the United States, Mumbai in India and Bangkok in Thailand. Antwerp is known as the “Diamond Capital of the World”, with around half of the world's diamond transactions completed here. The “Antwerp Cut” is synonymous with a perfect cut.
