The most outstanding property of heavy metal alloys is the high density of 17-19 g/cm³. Comparable densities are only reached by gold or platinum metals, which are considerably more expensive. Other exotic materials like rhenium, uranium or tantalum achieve these densities, but are either too difficult or expensive to obtain, or they have unsatisfactory mechanical characteristics.
Other advantages of Densalloy® heavy metal alloys are their extremely high Young's modulus of elasticity and high absorption coefficient for ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation or high-energy X-radiation. Their machinability is better than that of pure tungsten.
Heavy Metal Properties