Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

At the beginning of the week, China tungsten price remains stable because purchasers are not active in trading and sellers are not willing to cut their profits for more sales. 

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

China tungsten price remains stable on April 23, 2023 as the whole market keeps quiet with the approaching of the holiday of the Labour Day. 

China’s rare earth prices are generally arranged within a narrow range and fluctuate slightly on April 24, 2023. Under the interweaving of negative and positive factors, the price of praseodymium and neodymium showed a slight downward trend, while the price of dysprosium and terbium rose slightly, and the price of NdFeB rough and its waste remained weak and stable.

Chinese molybdenum market maintains a relatively strong operation at the beginning of the week. 

Analysis of latest tungsten market from Chinatungsten Online

China tungsten price has been raised across the board in the week ended on Friday April 21, 2023 as large tungsten enterprises increased their long-term contract prices for the second half of April, releasing positive signals to the market. 

Rare earth market quotation in China: neodymium oxide and praseodymium neodymium oxide prices decline slightly while holmium oxide and dysprosium oxide prices edge higher on April 23, 2023. 

China molybdenum price has moved up significantly on April 23, 2023. For example, molybdenum oxide price has returned to above 3,000 yuan/mtu, and the prices of ferromolybdenum and ammonium heptamolybdate have also broken through the 200,000 yuan/ton mark again. The actual transaction volume also increased slightly.

Researchers have investigated the oxidation behavior of W-Cr-Nb ternary alloys and W-Cr-Zr ternary alloys. Suresh et al. reported the oxidation behavior of W-Cr-Nb ternary alloys at 1000°C for 15 hours (30 cycles). The microstructure results of different W-Cr-Nb alloys showed that W-Cr-Nb ternary alloys have high density and small amount of porosity, and their true density is 97.5-98.5% of their theoretical density.W-Cr-Nb ternary alloys are mainly composed of W-rich solid solution (WSS) and Cr₂Nb phases.

Calvo et al. prepared W-Cr-Y ternary alloys with Cr content of 8 and 10 wt% and Y content of 0.3, 0.5 and 1 wt% by HIP technique and studied their oxidation behavior. The microstructure pictures of the HIPed alloy surface showed a fine surface structure and homogeneous composition. EDS analysis showed that most of the bright gray areas were Cr-rich phases, while the dark gray discontinuous areas were W-rich phase. The W-Cr-Y alloy has a lower grain size of 0.5-1 µm compared to the W-15Cr alloy. This suggests that the addition of Y can act as a grain growth inhibitor. In addition, nanoscale black Y₂O₃ particles were observed at the grain boundaries, which were caused by the decomposition of unstable oxides during the HIPing process.

Garcia et al. produced W-Cr-Ti ternary alloys—WCr12Ti2.5 (wt%) alloys by MA and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) techniques and investigated the oxidation behavior of the alloy. The results showed that the Δ m/S of the WCr₁₂Ti_2.5 alloy was 1.25 × 10^-2 to 4 × 10^-2 times higher than that of the W-Cr alloy during the first 15 h of oxidation at 800 °C. In addition, the former is 2 × 10^-2 to 5 × 10^-2 times higher than the latter for the first 5 h of oxidation at 1000 °C. With increasing oxidation time, the oxide layer of the WCr₁₂Ti_2.5 alloy becomes thicker and its porosity gradually increases. In addition, the oxidized alloy has a similar cross-sectional structure, consisting of black, dark gray and light gray phases from inside to outside, respectively.