Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-06-13
TUNGSTEN VITAL
TO u. s. STEEL
INDUSTRY NEED
COMBINED WITH OTHER METALS
1T MAKES "SELF-HARDEN-
ING" STEEL
BY CARL J. TRAUERMAN


This is one Of series on stra-
tegic minerals in Montana. These
articles are being prepared by
Montana Mineral Resources sur
vey, a cooperative enterprise con-
Quoted jointly by Montana School
of Mines and the works projects
administration OF Montana. Other
articles will follow shortly.
II you turn on the switch OF an
ordinary electric light today, the light
will Immediately glow. In former days
it took a little while for the filament
in the bulb to warm up and the old
filaments used a lot of power. Today
these tilamentS are made of tungsten
and an authority in the electrical in
duStry stated recently that the light
bill Of the United States has been re-
duced about s24O.OOO.OOO annually by
using tungsten filaments rather than
carbon or other filaments which were
used in the early days.
Strategic Metal
Tungsten IS one of the principal
strategic metals, although the annual
amount used is not as large as that
of metals such as manganese and
chromium and the annual consump-
ton of the United States and the rest
of the world has been more or less
erratic. The principal demand for tung-
stem comes from the steel industry
where it is used as an alloy to harden
steels and make high-speed cutting
steels that will keep their temper"
under great heat. High-speed tool steel
usually contains from Is to 20 percent
of tungsten and sometimes these tool
steels also contain small amounts of
chromium and vanadium. Tungsten
also is used to make what is known
as "self-hardening" steel which con-
tains from 4 to IL percent of tungsten
with small amounts of chromium and
manganese. This steel cannot be soft
ened by any known method. 1t is used
for valves and valve seats, for internal
combustion engines and for other pur-
poses in atmosphereS of high heat.
Many complex alloy steels for special
purposes contain certain amounts Of
tungsten. These Steels are used for
car springs. grinding rolls, cold chisels,
razor blades, etc. Tungsten steels are
used not only in the manufacture OF
naval and military equipment but also
are used in many types of ordnance
One special tungsten carbide alloy
used for cutting, is said to be nearly
as hard as a diamond
In the chemical industry salts o!
| tungsten are used in making white
leather, flameproof cloth, paint pig
ments. ceramics, X-ray screens and in
weighing textile fabrics.
Tungsten is found in nature in a
number of forms, but the three well
known minerals are scheelite, pale
yellowiSh-to-gra brown tungstate
of calcium which fluoresces under the
action of ultraviolet light: wolframite,
an iron-manganese tungstate with a
dark gray-to-browniSh-b black color, and
hubnerite, a manganese tungstate with
a brownish-black or black color. Min
erals Of tungsten are found in a num-
Der Of our western states but the prin-
cipal domestic production comes from
Nevada with California running a
close second. Additional production. in
order Of tonnage, comes from Colorado,
Idaho, Arizona. Washington. Montana
and Utah. However, large new deposits
have been discovered near St!bnite,
Valley county, Idaho, recently and this
order of tonnage may be changed be-