Tungsten is mainly used in the production of hard materials based on tungsten carbide (WC), one of the hardest carbides. WC is an efficient electrical conductor, but W2C is less so. WC is used to make wear-resistant abrasives, and "carbide" cutting tools such as knives, drills, circular saws, dies, milling and turning tools used by the metalworking, woodworking, mining, petroleum and construction industries.Carbide tooling is actually a ceramic/metal composite, where metallic cobalt acts as a binding (matrix) material to hold the WC particles in place. This type of industrial use accounts for about 60% of current tungsten consumption.

The hardness and heat resistance of tungsten can contribute to useful alloys. A good example is high-speed steel, which can contain as much as 18% tungsten.Tungsten's high melting point makes tungsten a good material for applications like rocket nozzles, for example in the UGM-27 Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile.Tungsten alloys are used in a wide range of applications, including the aerospace and automotive industries and radiation shielding. Superalloys containing tungsten, such as Hastelloy and Stellite, are used in turbine blades and wear-resistant parts and coatings.
Tungsten's heat resistance makes it useful in arc welding applications when combined with another highly-conductive metal such as silver or copper. The silver or copper provides the necessary conductivity and the tungsten allows the welding rod to withstand the high temperatures of the arc welding environment.

Quenched (martensitic) tungsten steel (approx. 5.5% to 7.0% W with 0.5% to 0.7% C) was used for making hard permanent magnets, due to its high remanence and coercivity, as noted by John Hopkinson (1849–1898) as early as 1886. The magnetic properties of a metal or an alloy are very sensitive to microstructure. For example, while the element tungsten is not ferromagnetic (but iron is), when it is present in steel in these proportions, it stabilizes the martensite phase, which has greater ferromagnetism than the ferrite (iron) phase due to its greater resistance to magnetic domain wall motion.

Tungsten, usually alloyed with nickel, iron, or cobalt to form heavy alloys, is used in kinetic energy penetrators as an alternative to depleted uranium, in applications where uranium's radioactivity is problematic even in depleted form, or where uranium's additional pyrophoric properties are not desired (for example, in ordinary small arms bullets designed to penetrate body armor). Similarly, tungsten alloys have also been used in shells, grenades, and missiles, to create supersonic shrapnel. Germany used tungsten during World War II to produce shells for anti-tank gun designs using the Gerlich squeeze bore principle to achieve very high muzzle velocity and enhanced armor penetration from comparatively small caliber and light weight field artillery. The weapons were highly effective but a shortage of tungsten used in the shell core, caused in part by the Wolfram Crisis, limited their use.

Tungsten(IV) sulfide is a high temperature lubricant and is a component of catalysts for hydrodesulfurization.MoS2 is more commonly used for such applications.
Tungsten oxides are used in ceramic glazes and calcium/magnesium tungstates are used widely in fluorescent lighting. Crystal tungstates are used as scintillation detectors in nuclear physics and nuclear medicine. Other salts that contain tungsten are used in the chemical and tanning industries.Tungsten oxide (WO3) is incorporated into selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts found in coal-fired power plants. These catalysts convert nitrogen oxides (NOx) to nitrogen (N2) and water (H2O) using ammonia (NH3). The tungsten oxide helps with the physical strength of the catalyst and extends catalyst life. Tungsten containing catalysts are promising for epoxidation,oxidation,and hydrogenolysis reactions.Tungsten heteropoly acids are key component of multifunctional catalysts.Tungstates can be used as photocatalyst, while the tungsten sulfide as electrocatalyst.

Applications requiring its high density include weights, counterweights, ballast keels for yachts, tail ballast for commercial aircraft, rotor weights for civil and military helicopters, and as ballast in race cars for NASCAR and Formula One.Being slightly less than twice the density, tungsten alloy is seen as an alternative (albeit more expensive) to lead fishing sinkers. Depleted uranium is also used for these purposes, due to similarly high density. Seventy-five-kg blocks of tungsten were used as "cruise balance mass devices" on the entry vehicle portion of the 2012 Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft. It is an ideal material to use as a dolly for riveting, where the mass necessary for good results can be achieved in a compact bar. High-density alloys of tungsten with nickel, copper or iron are used in high-quality darts[89] (to allow for a smaller diameter and thus tighter groupings) or for artificial flies (tungsten beads allow the fly to sink rapidly). Tungsten is also used as a heavy bolt to lower the rate of fire of the SWD M11/9 sub-machine gun from 1300 RPM to 700 RPM. Tungsten has seen use recently in nozzles for 3D printing; the high wear resistance and thermal conductivity of tungsten carbide improves the printing of abrasive filaments.Some string instrument strings incorporates tungsten.Tungsten is used as an absorber on the electron telescope on the Cosmic Ray System of the two Voyager spacecraft.

Because the density is so similar to that of gold (tungsten is only 0.36% less dense), and its price of the order of one-thousandth, tungsten can also be used in counterfeiting of gold bars, such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold,which has been observed since the 1980s, or taking an existing gold bar, drilling holes, and replacing the removed gold with tungsten rods.The densities are not exactly the same, and other properties of gold and tungsten differ, but gold-plated tungsten will pass superficial tests.

Because it retains its strength at high temperatures and has a high melting point, elemental tungsten is used in many high-temperature applications,such as incandescent light bulb, cathode-ray tube, and vacuum tube filaments, heating elements, and rocket engine nozzles.Its high melting point also makes tungsten suitable for aerospace and high-temperature uses such as electrical, heating, and welding applications, notably in the gas tungsten arc welding process (also called tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding).