Tungsten is the metals with the highest melting point, which is 3422°C. It is mainly used to make filaments and high-speed cutting alloy steel, super-hard molds, and is also used in optical instruments and chemical instruments. In addition, do you know which other metals have higher melting points? This article will count the top ten metals with the highest melting points. Let’s get to know them together.
Tungsten
Tungsten is a silvery-white metal that is shaped like steel. Its melting point is the highest of all metal elements, up to 3422°C, and its boiling point is 5927°C, making it the metal with the highest melting point in the world. It is an ultra-high-temperature resistant metal and ranks first in the list of metals with the highest melting points.
As a rare high-melting-point metal, tungsten is often used as a filament, because when the light is turned on, the temperature of the filament reaches up to 3000°C. Only tungsten can withstand such a high temperature. In addition, tungsten can also increase the high-temperature hardness of steel. At the same time, tungsten has been widely used in the fields of alloy, electronics and chemical industries due to its high melting point, high hardness, high density and good conductivity.
Rhenium
Rhenium is a silvery white rare metal with a high melting point. Its melting point ranks second among all metals, second only to tungsten. Its melting point is as high as 3180℃ and its boiling point is 5900℃. Due to its high melting point, rhenium is more difficult to obtain than diamonds and is one of the rarest elements in the earth’s crust, so it is very expensive and belongs to the most expensive metals in the world.
Rhenium and its alloys are widely used in aerospace, electronics industry, petrochemical industry and other fields, especially high-efficiency jet engines and rocket engines, so they are of great significance in military strategy.
Osmium
Osmium is a high-density rare metal belonging to the heavy platinum group metals and is the densest metal in the world. Osmium exists in osmium-iridium ores and is extremely difficult to mine because its density reaches 22.48g/cm3, its melting point is as high as 3045℃, and its boiling point is higher than 5027℃. It is one of the three metals with the highest melting points in the world.
Osmium has a wide range of uses and can be used to make ultra-high hardness alloys. It is mainly used as a catalyst in industry. It is often used to make products with other metals to extend their service life.
Tantalum
Tantalum is a rare metal mineral resource, mainly found in tantalum rock, coexisting with niobium. With a density of 16.68g/cm³, a melting point of 2980°C and a boiling point of 5425°C, it is the fourth most refractory metal after tungsten, rhenium and osmium. As a rare metal, tantalum has a high melting point, low vapor pressure, good cold working properties, high chemical stability and strong resistance to liquid metal corrosion, and has a wide range of application prospects.
Tantalum has important applications in high-tech fields such as electronics, metallurgy, steel, chemical industry, cemented carbide, atomic energy, superconducting technology, automotive electronics, aerospace, medical and scientific research. Almost half of the world’s tantalum metal production is used to produce tantalum capacitors.
Molybdenum
Molybdenum is a transition metal element. It is an essential trace element for the human body, animals and plants. It is also the metal element with the highest melting point. Its density is 10.2g/cm³, melting point is 2610℃, and boiling point is 5560℃. Molybdenum is a silvery-white metal that is hard and strong. Like tungsten, it is also a refractory rare metal.
According to statistics on molybdenum consumption in various countries around the world, the application of molybdenum in the steel industry still occupies the most important position, accounting for about 80% of the total molybdenum consumption, followed by the chemical industry, accounting for about 10%. In addition, molybdenum is also used in medicine, agriculture, electrical and electronic technology, etc., accounting for about 10% of the total consumption.
Niobium
Niobium is a silver-grey, soft and tough rare high-melting-point metal with a density of 8.57g/cm³, a melting point of 2477°C and a boiling point of 4744°C. At room temperature, niobium does not react with air, but directly combines with sulfur, nitrogen and carbon at high temperatures.
Niobium has good superconductivity, corrosion resistance, high melting point and wear resistance, and is widely used in steel, superconducting materials, aerospace, electronics industry, medical and other fields. Niobium does not appear in pure form in nature, but combines with other elements to form minerals.
Iridium
Iridium has extremely high chemical stability to acid and is insoluble in acid. It is the most corrosion-resistant metal and the metal material with the highest melting point. Its density is 22.56g/cm³, melting point is 2450℃, and boiling point is 4130℃. The content of iridium in the earth’s crust is 1/10 million. It is often dispersed in various ores of alluvial deposits and placers together with platinum group elements.
It is a rare precious metal material belonging to the platinum group metals. Iridium can be widely used in industrial and medical fields due to its high melting point, high hardness and corrosion resistance.
Ruthenium
Ruthenium is a member of the platinum group of metals. It is the lowest content element in the earth’s crust among the platinum group elements and the last of the platinum group elements. Ruthenium is a rare transition metal with stable properties and strong corrosion resistance. It has a melting point of 2310°C and a boiling point of 3900°C, making it the metal material with the highest melting point in the world.
Ruthenium has a variety of uses and is often used in electronics. It is cheaper than rhodium and has very similar properties, and is often used in the production of electrical contacts, wires, and electrodes.
Hafnium
Hafnium is a shiny silver-grey transition metal with a density of 13.31g/cm³, a melting point of 2233℃, and a boiling point of 4603℃. It is one of the metals with the highest melting points on earth and ranks ninth among the metals with the highest melting points. In 1925, Swedish chemist Hedwig and Dutch physicist Kost obtained pure hafnium salt by fractional crystallization of fluorine-containing complex salts, and reduced it with metallic sodium to obtain pure metallic hafnium. Hafnium is rarely found in the earth’s crust and usually coexists with zirconium.
Hafnium is used as atomic energy material, alloy material, high temperature resistant material, electronic material, etc. because of its high temperature resistance, oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, easy processing, rapid heat absorption and heat release.
Technetium
Technetium is one of the metals with the highest melting point on earth, with a melting point of 2157°C and a boiling point of 4265°C. Technetium is also the first element to be produced by artificial methods. It was first obtained by bombarding molybdenum with deuterium (heavy hydrogen) in a cyclotron. The element symbol is TC. It belongs to group VIIB in the periodic table and is a silvery-white metal.
Technetium is used as a tracer in metallurgy, low-temperature chemistry and corrosion-resistant products, nuclear fuel burnup determination, and medical research.
Rhodium
Rhodium is a silvery-white hard metal that belongs to the platinum group. It is also the most expensive precious metal in the world and is extremely rare. Rhodium has a higher melting point than platinum, with a melting point of 1966°C and a boiling point of 3727°C. Rhodium is insoluble in most acids and has a high melting point and amazing corrosion resistance.
This silvery metal is commonly used due to its reflective properties. In addition to making alloys, it can also be used as a bright and hard coating for other metals. However, due to the high price of rhodium, it is usually used only as an additive element except for special uses.
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