Tungsten Carbide Molybdenum axle shaft

Does anyone make a Tungsten Carbide Molybdenum axle shaft...seems like it would be an excellent misture for toughness at high temperatures and hardest metal out there... probably would be fairly pricey.. just a thought

me thinks it a bit brittle... not sure if you could heat treat it differently though...

axle shaft technology has been pushed pretty far, and 300m seems to be the best bet while remaining reasonable. there's a point where it would be cheaper to use larger diameter shafts than some exotic metal.

Thanks, I was just curious.

BrettM said:

me thinks it a bit brittle

Click to expand...

Carbide...

Absolutely.

Me thinks RockRash has been smoking his avatar.

Actually, I was thinking the same thing about axles made of Titaniluminum.
That way, they'd be solid as fug, but still be workable by the garage fabricator.

Why not just go with pure, unadulaterated unobtainium?

Seriously - tungsten carbide is not only very hard and very brittle, but it's also made by "powder metallurgy" - beacause tungsten carbide is not an alloy that would normally exist.

Powdered tungsten and powdered carbon are mixed thoroughly with a small percentage of cobalt (as a binder,) poured into a mould, and then heated and pressed until the part is "solid."

Any machinist will tell you that, while tungsten carbide may be harder than the hinges of Hell, it's not always the best choice for machining. Ask anyone who's wrecked a carbide bit with an "interrupted cut" - working over a drilled hole or a keyway - and they'll tell you it won't be a good choice for axle shafts.

As far as molybdenum goes, it's rarely used in industrial applications in its pure state. Mo is typically used as an alloying element in steel to increase toughess and ductility - and that's a significant alloying element in 41xx and 43xx steel alloys (Chromium-molybdenum alloys.) Chromium also increases toughness (slightly) and corrosion resistance (significantly.)

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