Tungsten, molybdenum, and cemented carbide parts can be produced using several additive manufacturing technologies. This article classifies the most relevant technologies into two groups based on the raw materials used: powder-bed methods, such as selective laser melting, electron beam melting, and binder jet three-dimensional (3-D) printing, and feedstock methods, such as fused-filament fabrication and thermoplastic 3-D printing. It discusses the characteristics, processing steps, properties, advantages, limitations, and applications of these technologies.

This article briefly discusses the annealing practices for refractory metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, and rhenium and their alloys. It also presents the applications and properties of these metals and their alloys.

This article is a compilation of binary alloy phase diagrams for which tungsten (W) is the first named element in the binary pair. The diagrams are presented with element compositions in weight percent. The atomic percent compositions are given in a secondary scale. For each binary system, a table of crystallographic data is provided that includes the composition, Pearson symbol, space group, and prototype for each phase.

Refractory metals are typically processed from powders into ingots that are subsequently swaged into round bars or rolled into plates. Secondary operations are required to fabricate more complex refractory metal components. This article discusses two such secondary operations, namely, machining and joining processes for tungsten, tungsten heavy alloys, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and rhenium components. It describes the various types of metal joining processes, including mechanical fastening, brazing, and welding.

The residual porosity in sintered refractory metal ingots is usually eliminated by different densification processes, such as thermomechanical processes. This article focuses on thermomechanical processing of tungsten, molybdenum, and tantalum. It provides an overview of liquid-phase sintering of tungsten heavy alloys and describes the infiltration of tungsten and molybdenum for attaining full density. The article concludes by providing information on hot isostatic pressing of refractory metal alloys to full density.

Electrical contacts are made of elemental metals, composites, or alloys that are made by the melt-cast method or manufactured by powder metallurgy (PM) processes. PM facilitates combinations of metals that ordinarily cannot be achieved by alloying. This article describes the processing, properties, and performance of electrical contacts based on PM or hybrid composite technologies with refractory metals and compounds. These metals and compounds include tungsten, molybdenum, carbide-based composites, and silver-base composites. The article explains composite manufacturing methods, namely, PM methods, internal oxidation, and hybrid consolidation. The availability of the refractory metals and compounds in various product forms are also reviewed.

This article focuses on the selection, properties, and applications of powder metallurgy refractory metals and their alloys, including tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and rhenium.

This article describes the formability and surface contamination of the refractory metals such as niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten, and titanium-zirconium-molybdenum alloys. It reviews the factors that affect mechanical properties and formability during rolling and heat treatment. The effect of temperature on the formability of refractory metals is discussed. The article provides a description of the forming methods of sheet and preformed blanks using refractory metals. It also discusses the types of lubricants, including oils, soaps, waxes, silicones, graphite, and molybdenum disulphide, used in the forming of refractory metals.

This article focuses on the forging characteristics of different types of refractory metals and alloys, namely, niobium and niobium alloys, molybdenum and molybdenum alloys, tantalum and tantalum alloys, and tungsten and tungsten alloys.

This article describes various procedures used in the metallographic preparation of niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, and tungsten alloys. It provides information on sectioning, grinding, mounting, polishing, and electrolytic etching as well as alternate procedures that have been used on refractory metals. The article presents and analyzes several micrographs, provides etchant formulas for various materials, and discusses the unique characteristics of rhenium and its alloys.

Chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) of metals is described as mechanically accelerated corrosion, erosion corrosion, or metallic corrosion enhanced by wear. This article reviews the history, process, chemistry, electrochemistry, and defect issues for CMP. It provides an overview of CMP through a schematic illustration of CMP process equipment. The applications of CMP to tungsten and copper alloys are of prime interest in the semiconductor industry. The article discusses copper CMP and tungsten CMP in detail and analyzes polishing mechanism during CMP by application of direct current potentiodynamic polarization and alternating current impedance measurements. It concludes with information on chemically induced defects such as pitting corrosion, galvanic corrosion, and chemical etching.

Very high density materials are used for such applications as counterweights and radiation shields. This article focuses on the metallurgy, processing, properties, fabrication, design considerations, health and safety considerations, and applications of the most commonly used very high density materials: depleted uranium and tungsten and their alloys.

This article addresses surface cleaning, finishing, and coating operations that have proven to be effective for molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, and niobium. It describes standard procedures for abrasive blasting, molten caustic processing, acid cleaning, pickling, and solvent and electrolytic cleaning as well as mechanical grinding and finishing. The article also provides information on common plating and coating methods, including electroplating, anodizing, and oxidation-resistant coatings.

This article discusses special metallurgical considerations during the fusion welding of refractory metal alloys. These considerations are: microstructure, interstitial impurities, and welding conditions that are considered during the fusion welding of refractory metal alloys, including tantalum, niobium, rhenium, molybdenum, and tungsten. Refractory metal alloys are discussed in the order of decreasing weldability: tantalum, niobium, rhenium, molybdenum, and tungsten.

This article provides a discussion on filler metal selection, brazing procedures, and brazing equipment for brazing refractory metals. These include molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, and tantalum, and reactive metals. Commercially pure and alpha titanium alloys, alpha-beta alloys, zirconium alloys, and beryllium alloys are some reactive metals discussed in the article.

This article describes various machining techniques of refractory metals, namely, niobium, molybdenum, tantalum, and tungsten. These include turning, boring, trepanning, reaming, milling, tapping, drilling, and sawing. Parameters for the machining of the refractory metals are also tabulated. In addition, the article provides information on cutting fluids and tools that are used in machining of the refractory metals as well as on the safety precautions to be followed in the machining process.