Tungsten is a refractory transition metal topic central to materials science, condensed matter physics, and high-temperature engineering due to its exceptional physical properties, including the highest melting point of all metals (~3422°C), very high density, and low vapor pressure. Research on tungsten encompasses its body-centered cubic crystal structure, defect dynamics, irradiation response in nuclear fusion environments, and mechanical behavior under extreme thermal and mechanical loads. It is also a key subject in electronic materials and catalysis topics, where its alloys and compounds (e.g., tungsten carbides) are investigated for hardness, wear resistance, and electronic or catalytic functionalities.
Fusion reactors, devices that generate energy by fusing light atomic nuclei at extremely high temperatures, could contribute to ongoing efforts aimed at producing electricity more sustainably. The extreme environment inside ...
Fusion systems need inner walls that can withstand extreme heat. One promising solution uses liquid lithium to protect the walls, held like water in a sponge made of the exceptionally strong metal tungsten. An advanced manufacturing ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 4, 2026
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Scientists at Ames National Laboratory developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that accelerates discovery of materials needed for next-generation fusion energy systems. The tool, DuctGPT, combines advanced AI with ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 27, 2026
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As the demand for more secure data transmission increases, conventional communication technologies are facing limitations imposed by classical physics, and are therefore approaching their limits in terms of security. Fortunately, ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 28, 2025
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Tungsten (W), a hard, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant metal, is indispensable to modern high-tech industries—from aerospace and defense to computing. While its global distribution is uneven, most tungsten deposits ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 11, 2025
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Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have made tungsten disulfide nanotubes which point in the same direction when formed, for the first time. They used a sapphire surface under carefully controlled conditions to ...
Nanomaterials
Dec 16, 2024
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153
Fusion researchers are increasingly turning to the element tungsten when looking for an ideal material for components that will directly face the plasma inside fusion reactors known as tokamaks and stellarators. But under ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 7, 2024
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104
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) measured a new record for a fusion device internally clad in tungsten, the element that could be the best fit for the commercial-scale ...
Plasma Physics
May 6, 2024
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In the pursuit of clean and endless energy, nuclear fusion is a promising frontier. But in fusion reactors, where scientists attempt to make energy by fusing atoms together, mimicking the sun's power generation process, things ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 13, 2024
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298
Researchers at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and their collaborators have synthesized two new isotopes—osmium-160 and tungsten-156—which sheds new light on nuclear structures ...
General Physics
Feb 19, 2024
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