tungsten

[zeusrekning]

Have any of you guys used tungsten for anything. I was wondering if it would work for the heated end of a stirling engine. We make weights at work out of 97% pure tungsten and while sawing the stuff it gets very hot and holds the heat for a while. It is also used for welding electrodes so it will withstand the heat.
Disadvantages:
1: Very expensive. A bar of pressed and sintered Tung. .56" x 1.4" x 12" long cost about $240.
2: Heavy, I think it is 1.7 times the weight of lead. Bar mentioned above is about 6.5lbs. And a 1"dia pc 1" long is about 1/2lb.

It does machine very well. I was surprised because I thought it would be very hard but it is not.

 

[shred]

I'm not sure a good conductor is wanted at the hot cap end. From what I've read, stainless and now titanium are popular because less heat leaks along the hot cap into parts unwanted. Tungsten can also be fairly brittle-- probably not a big deal in a sterling application though.

 

[zeusrekning]

That makes sense. I was thinking you wanted the cap to stay hot. But you actually want to heat the air while keeping the rest of the components as cool as posible? Thanks for the input.
Tim