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Tungsten scrap metal from counterweights, contacts and wire trim
We work out a scrap tungsten price for each lot instead of posting one, because pure tungsten, heavy alloy and mixed bags are different material. Send photos and a rough weight; we pay the shipping from anywhere in the US, and we pick up in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
Pure tungsten or heavy alloy: the first question about any lot
Tungsten scrap comes in two families, and we quote them apart.
Pure tungsten is the element itself. ITIA gives it the highest melting point of any metal, 3,422 C, and a density like gold, about 19.3 g/cm3; NIST's table lists it at 19.30.
Tungsten heavy alloy is mostly tungsten with a small metal binder. ITIA describes it as a two-phase composite of tungsten with nickel and iron, and a 2021 paper in Materials says the classic heavy alloys are tungsten-nickel-iron and tungsten-nickel-copper, with tungsten generally 80 to 98 percent by weight.
That binder makes heavy alloy a little lighter than the pure metal. A 2020 study gives sintered heavy alloy parts a typical density of 16 to 18 g/cm3, and ITIA puts it at up to 18.5. Both sit below pure tungsten at about 19.3.
Sources: ITIA Tungsten Newsletter, December 2007; NIST X-ray mass attenuation tables, Table 1; ITIA Tungsten Newsletter, December 2004; Materials (Basel) 2021: tungsten heavy alloys; Materials (Basel) 2020: sintered tungsten heavy alloy.
The jobs tungsten scrap retires from
Heavy alloy goes where a lot of weight has to fit in a small space. USGS lists it for armaments, heat sinks, radiation shielding, and weights and counterweights, and ITIA adds vibration damping. ITIA's December 2007 newsletter counts up to 850 kg of heavy alloy counterweights in a Boeing 747.
Tungsten outside carbide and heavy alloy turns up in electrical and heat work. Among the other US uses in 2025, USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 lists electrodes, filaments, wires and other components for electrical, electronic, heating, lighting and welding applications. The USGS tungsten recycling study (Circular 1196-R, 2011) names electrical contacts, heating elements, protective shields, sputtering targets and switches among old tungsten metal and alloy scrap.
Plants that make tungsten parts leave scrap of their own. USGS describes the hard scrap from mill products as sinter bar ends, rod and wire end trim, and rejected parts. For heavy alloy, Circular 1196-R says most new scrap is high-quality turnings, with powder, floor sweepings and rejected solid parts besides.
Sources: USGS Circular 1196-R (2011); ITIA: applications and markets; ITIA Tungsten Newsletter, December 2007; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Tungsten; USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028.
Weigh it, measure it: tungsten, carbide or lead
Tungsten, carbide and lead are all heavy for their size, and they end up in the same drawers and coffee cans. Density sorts them better than color does. Weigh a piece in grams, work out its volume in cubic centimetres from its measurements, and divide the first number by the second.
- Pure tungsten: about 19.3 (ITIA, NIST)
- Tungsten heavy alloy: 16 to 18.5 (2020 study, ITIA)
- Tungsten carbide: 15.6 in an NTP table; real cobalt grades run lighter, such as 14.91 for a 6 percent cobalt grade in a 2023 study
- Lead: 11.35 (NIST)
- Steel: about 7.8 (MIT course table, 1999)
On those figures, pure tungsten is about a quarter heavier than carbide of the same size (19.3 divided by 15.6 is about 1.24) and about 70 percent heavier than lead. Heavy alloy and carbide can land close together, so a reading near 15 or 16 does not settle it. Carbide is also far harder: ITIA puts tungsten metal at 300 to 650 HV30 and cemented carbide grades at about 800 to 2800 HV10.
Still unsure? Bag the piece by itself, mark it unknown and send a photo. If it turns out to be carbide, it belongs with the rest of your carbide scrap, which is the center of what we buy, and how to identify carbide has more checks.
Sources: ITIA Tungsten Newsletter, December 2007; NIST X-ray mass attenuation tables, Table 1; Materials (Basel) 2020: sintered tungsten heavy alloy; NTP Report on Carcinogens profile: cobalt-tungsten carbide; OSTI 2376169 (2023); MIT 3.11 metals property table (1999); ITIA: properties and intermediates; ITIA: cemented carbides (June 2010).
Tungsten in 2025: export controls and a doubled APT price
The value of any tungsten scrap rides on the tungsten market, and 2025 moved it hard. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 says China put new export controls on selected tungsten items in February 2025 and that prices rose sharply all year. In Rotterdam, APT (ammonium paratungstate, which USGS calls the main tungsten raw material traded) went from $331 to $675 per metric ton unit during 2025, about double.
Supply from home is not part of the picture: by the USGS account, commercial tungsten mining in the United States stopped after 2015, and tungsten is on the federal Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. About 60 percent of US tungsten use in 2025 went into cemented carbide parts, by the USGS estimate, and the metal keeps circulating: ITIA's May 2018 newsletter follows a worn carbide drill through chemical recycling into heavy alloy. In its words, "Thus tungsten from a scrapped drill becomes part of a counterweight". Tungsten carbide recycling covers that route.
Market figures change and no two lots match, so we keep a scrap tungsten price off this page and quote your pieces from their photos, form and weight.
Sources: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Tungsten; USGS Open-File Report 2005-1028; Federal Register, Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals; ITIA Tungsten Newsletter, May 2018.
Three labeled bags, then a box or a pickup
- Heavy alloy counterweights, balance weights and shielding blocks
- Pure tungsten rod, bar ends, sheet and plate
- Wire and filament, coiled or loose
- Welding electrodes and electrode stubs
- Electrical contacts, heating elements and sputtering targets
- Turnings, powder and floor sweepings, each in its own sealed container
Keep powder sealed and dry. Under the EU classification on ITIA's page, very fine tungsten powder (0.6 to 0.9 micrometres) is listed as a flammable solid and as self-heating, so that in large quantities it may catch fire.
Put pure tungsten, heavy alloy and carbide in three labeled bags. Then fill in the quote form: choose exotic metals, give a rough weight and attach photos, or email them to help@carbidebuyersusa.com. Ship from anywhere in the US and we pay the shipping (packing heavy boxes is worth a read first), or we come to you in any city in California, Arizona, Utah or Nevada. We pay cash where state law allows it, and our scrap metal laws guide lays out what each state asks of sellers.
Sources: ITIA: health and environment.
Common questions
Why is there no tungsten scrap value per pound here?
Because it changes with the market and with what you have. Pure tungsten, heavy alloy and mixed bags are not the same material, so we quote your pieces from photos, form and weight. Use the quote form or email us.
Is tungsten scrap metal the same as the tungsten in my carbide inserts?
No. Inserts are cemented carbide: hard tungsten carbide held together by a metal binder, most often cobalt. Tungsten metal and heavy alloy are metals. We buy both, so keep them in separate bags and tell us which is which.
Do you take used tungsten welding electrodes?
Yes. Collect the stubs in a jar, keep them away from carbide and steel, and send a photo of the jar with a rough weight. If the box they came in is still around, photograph the label too.
Can you collect heavy alloy counterweights in Arizona?
Yes. We pick up in every city in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Counterweights are dense, so tell us how many pieces there are and roughly what they weigh, and we plan the pickup around that.
More for sellers
How to identify carbide
Telling carbide from steel and HSS in a toolbox
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Tungsten carbide recycling
Where your used carbide goes, and why it is worth recycling
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Molybdenum
Molybdenum and TZM solids, sheet and wire
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High-speed steel (HSS)
HSS drills, taps, end mills and tool bits
Learn moreSell scrap carbide
Ship it from any state and we pay the shipping, or we come to you
Learn moreReady to sell your carbide?
Send a few photos and a rough weight. From any state, you ship it and we cover the shipping; in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, we drive out to you.