Tungsten Carbide

[AlexLSU]

We currently use Tungsten Carbide for down hole oil and gas production to prevent erosion damage. We have used Silicon Carbide for extreme cases but is there another substitute? Possibly a coating or less expensive material that has the same wear properties as Tungsten Carbide? -Thanks

 

[Ceramicguy]

You could consider alumina, zirconia or zirconia toughened alumina in solid ceramics. Coatings you might consider include hard metal composites, ceramics, cermets and diamond like coatings. Proper selection will be highly dependent upon the wear mechanism you are dealing with and the service conditions your components are subjected to. You have not provided enough information to make a specific recommendation.

Bruce

http://www.accuratus.com

 

[tomwalz]

Ceramicguy's suggestions are excellent and certainly answer your question.

Personally I would look at some advanced carbide grades first because of toughness. I would be concerned about micro-impacts and edge chipping or spalling.

We are seeing up to 10 times the life of ordinary carbide with some of the new sub-micron / nano grades.

There has also been a lot of research into how carbide wears. What used to be considered 'wear' may now be classified as micro-fracturing, chemical attack / binder erosion, grain pull out and so on.

I just did an analysis for a gypsum company. They use saws to trim the edges of sheetrock panels and wanted longer life on the carbide tipped saw blades. Because gypsum is so soft it was presumed that the wear effect was straight abrasion. However microscopic examination showed an awful lot of scoring in the worn areas. An analysis of the ‘gypsum” revealed a high percentage of quartz and other very hard materials. In this case a tougher grade actually gave longer life.

Tom Walz


Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

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