Both titanium and tungsten are considered "model metals" in the jewelry
industry because they were not available to the consumer market as
commodities until ten years ago. They have gained tremendous popularity
since the introduction and become an integral part of the jewelry
material spectrum.
1. Hardness - Both titanium and
tungsten carbide are considerably harder than precious metals like gold
and platinum. However, tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials
in existence and substantially harder than titanium, registering a 9 on
the Mohs scale of mineral hardness (compared to titanium’s score of 6).
2. Scratch-resistance - Due to its
hardness tungsten carbide handily beats titanium when it comes to
scratch-resistance, though titanium is still considerably more
scratch-resistant than other popular materials. There are virtually no
materials other than a diamond that can scratch tungsten carbide.
3. Weight - Titanium is lighter than tungsten, or more precisely, has a lower
density. Titanium alloys are about 43% lighter than stainless steel and
tungsten carbide is about 90% heavier than stainless steel.
4. Price - Titanium jewelry is in general cheaper than tungsten jewelry primarily
due to the difference in equipment and environment control need to
produce them. The temperature for forming a tungsten carbide is about
6000 Fahrenheit, which has to be in either a vacuum or hydrogen
environment.
5.Engraving & Resizing - Titanium can be engraved and resized. However, a Tungsten
is too hard to be engraved or resized. Although engraving can be done,
the letters will be very faint and difficult to read.
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