Tungsten vs titanium – Which One is Best?

Titanium and tungsten are some of the strongest metals on the surface of this earth, yet the question is which one is better, and which one is stronger?

The answer is covered in an example of orange vs apples, got my point? Well, first we need to determine what we mean by strong.

What do We call a Strong Metal?

A metal with high tensile strength, more resistant to scratching or wear and tear, something that won’t crack when hit hard. Strong material is one that according to material science resists, both deformation and failure materials react to external forces in different ways before deforming or breaking.

They may be ductile which means they can deform without losing toughness, or they can be brittle which means they shatter under stress. The strong material can also be defined as strong based on its hardness; this I the ability of a material to resist denting, scratching, or other permanent changes.

How Do Tungsten & Titanium Fit in Definition of Strong Metal?

Here, I’ll rank both titanium and tungsten based on their scratch resistance, brittleness, ductility, and tensile strength. It is additionally critical to take note that it is uncommon to utilize unadulterated metals for most applications.

Both titanium and tungsten are usually alloyed with other metals to make them more workable. For instance, tungsten may be combined with carbide to make tungsten carbide, or with alloy to make tungsten alloy block to be used in various applications.

Similarly, titanium is often alloyed with metals such as; aluminum or vanadium. the titanium alloys are graded based on their properties, for example, Grade 5 often known as Workhorse grade, the most commercially available titanium alloy which offers an excellent combination of high strength, and toughness. It has good welding and fabrication characteristics.

Let’s see which of the metals is the stronger of the two when it comes to either material’s resistance to scratching.

Which is The Strongest; Tungsten or Titanium?

The answer is a no-brainer – tungsten alloy. The tungsten carbide is hands down the most resistant to scratch damage when compared to equivalent grades of titanium alloys. It has a hardness not too dissimilar to diamond.

The hardness of a material is measured on the Mohs scale of hardness which was made by the German Geologist, Friedrich Mohs in 1812. It is one of the several scales of hardness used in materials science.

The Mohs scale ranks material on a scale of 1 to 10 materials like Talc, have a Mohs hardness of 1, while diamond has a Mohs hardness of 10. On this scale, most commonly used tungsten carbide alloys have a hardness of 8 to 9 on the Mohs scale.

On the other hand, equivalent titanium grades come in at a mohs hardness of 6 which is just less than quartz at 7. For this reason, the tungsten carbide alloys that are equivalent to titanium grade 1 are also the most scratch-resistant of the two materials.

If you want, you can easily scratch titanium with tungsten carbide. However, both are still considerably more scratch-resistant than softer metals like Gold and Silver, but a material’s resistance to scratching is only part of the story.