Tungsten/Cemented Carbide Mining Tools

   Cemented carbideis a hard material used extensively as cutting tool material, as well as other industrial applications. It consists of fine particles of carbide cemented into a composite by a binder metal. Cemented carbides commonly use tungsten carbide (WC), titanium carbide (TiC), or tantalum carbide (TaC) as the aggregate. Mentions of "carbide" or "tungsten carbide" in industrial contexts usually refer to these cemented composites.

  Most of the time, carbide cutters will leave a better surface finish on the part, and allow faster machining than high-speed steel or other tool steels. Carbide tools can withstand higher temperatures at the cutter-workpiece interface than standard high-speed steel tools (which is a principal reason for the faster machining). Carbide is usually superior for the cutting of tough materials such as carbon steel or stainless steel, as well as in situations where other cutting tools would wear away faster, such as high-quantity production runs.
  Tungsten Carbide Insert Bit, also known as a tungsten carbide bit is a cutting tool that is primarily used in drilling applications to crush or cut rocks. Tungsten carbide consists of equal amounts of tungsten and carbon atoms which make it a very hard metal as compared to other metals and is thus, considered as a suitable material for manufacturing of drilling bits.
  Due to equal amounts of tungsten and carbon atoms embedded in a soft matrix of metallic cobalt, tungsten carbide is one of the hardest metals and is thus used to manufacture drill bits. The hardness value of tungsten carbide is 1600 HV, which is ten times higher than steel.
 There are two types of drill bits that are used in the oil and gas industry, i.e., rolling cutter bits and fixed cutter bits. The rolling cutter bits are further divided into two categories based on the material used in these bits. They are-:

• Milled tooth bits - these bits are made up of steel tooth cutters.
• Tungsten carbide bits - In such type of bits, the tungsten carbide teeth are pressed on to the teeth cones.