Speedy tungsten needed for faster fusion

[DerekShannon]

Hey, gang-

I misunderstood the meaning of “in stock,” and now we are hearing back long lead times for our requests for 99.9% pure or better tungsten. We need the material in at least one piece .6″ in height and 3″ in diameter, larger is fine. If anyone knows of a place that could give us the material in under a week, we have the shop to machine it all lined up. In case you are wondering if a piece of scrap that turns up is really big enough, the latest exact dimensions of the piece are 2.913″ diameter, .575″ high. Thanks for everyone’s input in the previous CAD help thread, which also has further background. Places we have checked (or are in the process of checking) to avoid duplication of effort:

Tungsten.cn (thx Henning)
Tungsten.com (Midwest Tungsten Service)
McMaster-Carr
Fancy places: PPPL, Brookhaven, NASA Ames, SpaceX, Boeing (but y’all probably have better contacts at these and similar)
http://www.cidraprecisionservices.com/ (thx CK for some of these)
http://www.diamondground.com/
http://eaglealloys.com
http://sylhan.com
http://morristech.com
http://njpt.com
http://lusomachine.com
http://fandamachine.com (our cross-street neighbors, they specialize in molybdenum)
HC Starck
http://www.Monti-Inc.com
Mi-tech Metals
http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/
Ebay (worth ongoing checks)

We also would consider a piece of lanthanated tungsten, popular in arc welding electrodes, although from what I’ve found not usually available in nearly the right size.

[willit]

I know how difficult it can be to get exotic metals espically in the desired shape. could you do it in segments? using a different shape with shorter lead times? once again going to the drawing board……:shut:

[willit]

one trick that i have used before with a similar situation was to use sheet and laser cut the desired shape then roll the sheet to produce a ring. this might be difficult to roll considering the hardness. maybe 2 or 3 layers of thinner material in layers. about 8 inches x height x thickness
i believe the first is to be the same method that hole saws are manufactured

[Francisl]

PLANSEE Express is showing product on hand but not in the size you are looking for. Your machine shop will have to do some extra work.

[Henning]

I’ve checked Francisl’s Link to Plansee a bit.

Plansee has Tungsten 1% Lanthanium oxide rods with a diameter of 8cm (3″) in stock (article number 268387), and pure 8cm diameter Tungsten rods (article number 148837), but those were not available yesterday.

On the other hand, they only seem to deliver rods at least 50cm long.

The corrected Plansee-Express link is here: https://www.plansee-express.com/

Plansee-Express contact for North America:
Name: Amy D’Amico
Telephone: +1 (508) 918–1263-0
Fax: +1 (508) 553–3823-531
e-Mail: expressna AT plansee.com

And the link to the USA plant of Plansee: http://www.plansee.com/en/About-us-Production-sites-USA-PLANSEE-USA-137.htm

BTW: They’ve got experience with fusion supply 😉 http://www.plansee.com/en/Products-System-components-and-accessories-Nuclear-fusion-791.htm

[DerekShannon]

Checking them right now, thx Francisl and Henning! Willit, those suggestions certainly merit further discussion, but would require a switch from our planned interference fit. What we are hearing is that with tungsten, the brittleness is the major machining problem.

[willit]

have you checked out http://www.cmwinc.com/tungsten-copper.php#elk100w they seem to have a multitude of alloy materials that could fit your bill. Elkonite material in (your selection) may prove to be an adequate substitute to pure tungsten considering the tungsten is then just electrically connected to a copper plate via press fit. it might fit the budget or lack thereof better also.
if the particles of alloyed material i.e. coarse tungsten granule’s are present the copper could be acid etched back to expose more of the tungsten allowing for a rough microscopic surface of sharp tungsten points within the edge of the ground teeth.
remember to retain your press fit. dissimilar metals all have dissimilar thermal expansion and can shrink or expand over time. once pressed in or chilled and dropped in pin it in place or provide a groove on the outside of the ring to provide a modicum of retention should it loosen up.

[Lerner]

We got it! thanks to all–Derek will update later.

[DerekShannon]

TUNGSTEN GET! Don’t ask what we had to do to make it happen (*cough* it involved a trip to LONG ISLAND, sheesh). Seriously, though, Sylhan there very kindly sold us the material–They are tungsten specialists, so we look forward to future visits and perhaps advice for our NJ machinist.

Thanks to ya’ll, it does appear that Plansee-Express is the best source for non-emergency tungsten, so we will be sure to order some reserve material, especially since we are still worried about the machining process due to W’s brittleness.

[willit]

you the man D! long island? are you ok?:snake:

[willit]

looks like Sylhan needs to update their applications list with Power and or Fusion energy research.

[Duke Leto]

In the interest of being totally unhelpful, Speedy Tungsten would make a great name for a Looney Tunes character.

[JimmyT]

It has been determined that a single piece cathode/base made of tungsten which must be custom manufactured is needed. This must be fairly expensive. Y’all must have a rough idea how expensive it will be. Would you share that with us?

[Lerner]

Sure, once we know. expect to get a quote in a week or so.

[Tulse]

I know this has been suggested before, but if machining is an issue, is 3D printing an option? There appear to be several firms that do additive manufacturing with tungsten (although I don’t know whether the properties of sintered tungsten would be appropriate for your use).

[Author]

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