WC: Tungsten Carbide

Tungsten Carbide is often referred to as a Hard Metal due to it’s very high hardness in relation to other metals. Typically a Tungsten Carbide Hard Metal can have a hardness value of 1600 HV, whereas mild steel would be in the region of 160 HV a factor of 10 lower.

Although called a hard metal, Tungsten Carbide is actually a composite material with hard particles of Tungsten Carbide embedded in a softer matrix of metallic Cobalt .