When this aerospace job shop settled on machining tungsten alloys and other heavy metals as its specialty, it had to have a machine tool, cutting tools, workholding and process know-how to succeed.
With density comparable to gold and uranium and almost twice that of lead, tungsten is a stellar choice for use in counterweights and ballast, as well as radiation shielding, ballistic penetrators, vibration-damped tooling, and sporting goods such as golf clubs. Many applications that exploit tungsten’s singular qualities are in the aerospace industry, where compact, precisely-positioned concentrations of mass contribute to aircraft stability and smooth operation of flight controls and engines. The parts are typically alloys formed from powders of tungsten, nickel, and iron and then sintered. These tough, stable, abrasive alloys can present machining challenges.