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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Anodizing Tungsten Carbide
Hi,
I'm researching and developing in Plasma Electrolysis field.
I successfully applied plasma electrolytic polishing on cemented WC.
Also I obtained thick, alumina (mainly) coatings on cemented WC under cathodic electrolytic plasma treatment. These coatings are very porous,
I want to try plasma electrolytic oxidation method on CeWC. Maybe tungstate anion will help. If I will have additional info, I will post it.
BR,
- Haifa Israel
September 23, 2020
⇩ Related postings, oldest first ⇩
Q. I am interested in hard anodizing (although that might not be the correct terminology) tungsten carbide. Is this possible? I suppose it would be similar to CVD coatings, which would not help the application problem I have. Does anyone in the cyber zone have experience with this?
C. A. Schmid- Houston, Texas
2001
A. High quality tungsten carbide is great as is. Why do you want to modify it?
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
2001
A. Is the tungsten carbide in an aluminum matrix? Some alloys, like the original German Duralumin had WC dispersed in the metal for some purpose I don't understand.
Michael Brewington- Salisbury, Maryland, USA
2001
Multiple threads merged: please forgive chronology errors and repetition 🙂
Anodizing Tungsten or plating with Aluminum and then anodizing
Q. Hi,
I had a question about anodizing tungsten. I make 90% tungsten darts and I was hoping on finding a way to color them. Seeing all the color choices that are available with anodized aluminum, I was wondering if I could somehow anodize tungsten so I could then color it. Or, if it was possible to aluminum plate the tungsten dart and then anodize it so I could use the whole array of colors available for anodized aluminum.
If these aren't options, what suggestions would there be to color the darts. Darts are banged around, handled a lot, and beat up when played with. The finishing would have to be durable, but wear over time is acceptable.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can add some color to my business.
John Clarkemanufacturer - Phoenix, Arizona, USA
2004
A. I was waiting for someone who knew more about the subject than me to reply but so far no luck so heres my 2cents. I've never worked tungsten..im pretty sure its not able to be anodized. as for having it coated with aluminum and then anodized..i asked that question a few months back(coating steel) and I was told its not able to be done with good results. what about a PVD coating? I've seen gold, silver, blue, black, and a gold based rainbow colors(looks like an oil slick in a wet parking lot... pretty). titanium nitride, titanium aluminum nitride, chromium nitride(although I think this is only available in silver?)are some terms you can net search for. this is something you won't be able to do yourself but its a durable, long lasting, and attractive finish. not sure if its do-able on tungsten. maybe heat coloring it with a torch? I use this method on steels and titaniums with beautiful results...in these materials it changes the hardness, I have no idea what effect it will have on tungsten. maybe heat up one and see how it looks and test to make sure it wont cause the dart to bend or break easier. changing the heat will alter the color...also the surface of the material should be clean..sometimes I add oil to the surface before hand to alter the colors but get used to doing a clean surface first.
the only other thing I can think of is painting/powder coating it...which would probably wear off quickly or maybe be too thick. sorry I wasn't more help, not a subject I know much about, just throwing out ideas.
Jason aube- flint, Michigan,usa
2004
Q. In regards to anodizing tungsten carbide, I would also like to know how to do this and my purpose is to create an electrically insulating surface.
Walt Johnson- Rocklin, California, USA
July 23, 2020
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