Tungsten Sputtering targets - W

Tungsten, also known as wolfram, is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.

A steel-gray metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only combined in chemical compounds. Its important ores include wolframite and scheelite. The free element is remarkable for its robust physical properties, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all the non-alloyed metals and the second highest of all the elements after carbon. Also remarkable is its very high density of 19.3 times that of water. This density is slightly more than that of uranium and 71% more than that of lead.Tungsten with minor amounts of impurities is often brittle and hard, making it difficult to work. However, very pure tungsten is more ductile, and can be cut with a hacksaw.

The unalloyed elemental form is used mainly in electrical applications. Tungsten's many alloys have numerous applications, most notably in incandescent light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes (as both the filament and target), and superalloys. Tungsten's hardness and high density give it military applications in penetrating projectiles. Tungsten compounds are most often used industrially as catalysts.

Tungsten is the only metal from the third transition series that is known to occur in biomolecules, and is the heaviest element known to be used by living organisms.