Why Use WHAs?

WHAs (tungsten heavy alloys) provide a unique combination of density, mechanical strength, machinability, corrosion resistance, and economy. Consequently, WHAs are widely used for counterweights, inertial masses, radiation shielding, sporting goods, and ordnance products.  These versatile materials provide distinct advantages when compared to alternate high density materials, as seen in the table below.

As can be seen from these data, WHA overcomes the toxicity, deformability, and inferior density of lead and its alloys.  Likewise, it can provide equivalent density to depleted uranium (DU) but without the special machining considerations (necessary due to its pyrophoricity) and licensing requirements for a radioactive substance.  WHA is truly the material of choice for high density applications.  These unique alloys provide the designer with many new freedoms.

There is one special category of density applications in which WHAs should not be used.  For applications in which the service temperature will exceed ~300°C, slight surface oxidation will occur in air.  It is important to note that at service temperatures exceeding ~500°C, WHA strength will fall off rapidly even in a protective atmosphere.  For these special cases, pure tungsten may provide a better option.  If reactive atmospheres are present in combination with elevated temperature, the best choice for very dense materials will be the platinum group metals – but at extremely high cost.


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