Tungsten Carbide

As the future wifey and I move ever-closer to our wedding date, things are slowly and gradually getting scratched from our "To Do List."

This weekend, we picked out our rings. The only one that looked manly on my ring finger is the one we decided on for me -- Tungsten Carbide.

Ever the curious one, I of course had to look up what the heck "Tungsten Carbide" even is because I had to know what I'd be rocking on my finger for evermore...

Tungsten carbide (chemical formula: WC) is a chemical compound (specifically, a carbide) containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into shapes for use in industrial machinery, cutting tools, abrasives, armor-piercing rounds, other tools and instruments, and jewelry.

Tungsten carbide is approximately two times stiffer than steel, with a Young's modulus of approximately 530–700 GPa (77,000 to 102,000 ksi), and is double the density of steel—nearly midway between that of lead and gold. It is comparable with corundum in hardness and can only be polished and finished with abrasives of superior hardness such as cubic boron nitride and diamond powder, wheels, and compounds.

So come July 2017, one of the toughest and darkest metals on Earth will be residing on my finger...

Take that, Captain America with your Vibranium shield and Wolverine with your Adamantium skeleton and claws!