Tungsten

Tungsten is a hard, steel-gray transition metal with the highest melting point of any known element. It is found in nature almost entirely in minerals such as wolframite and scheelite, not as pure metal. After mining, the ore is concentrated and chemically processed to make tungsten oxide, which is reduced with hydrogen or carbon to produce tungsten metal. Much of the tungsten is combined with carbon to make tungsten carbide, an extremely hard material used in cutting, mining, and construction tools. Tungsten metal is also valued in heat-resistant alloys, welding electrodes, and X-ray targets because it stays strong at very high temperatures.