Cemented Carbide Plates: ‘Super Armour’ for Modern Industry

Cemented Carbide Plates: ‘Super Armour’ for Modern Industry

Cemented carbide plate is a composite material made of tungsten carbide (WC) as matrix, cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni) and other metals as binder, and sintered at high temperature. Its hardness can be up to HRA 90 or more, both wear-resistant, corrosion-resistant and impact-resistant, known as the modern industry's ‘super-armour’.

Cemented carbide plates are mainly used in the following fields:

1. Mechanical manufacturing and processing fields

Cutting tools: used in the manufacture of turning tools, milling cutters, drills, etc., in high-speed cutting to maintain sharp edges, efficiency than high-speed steel tools to enhance more than 3 times.

Mould manufacturing: as a wear-resistant liner for stamping moulds and injection moulds, the life can be up to 5-10 times that of ordinary moulds, especially suitable for mass production of automotive parts.

Precision parts: processing high-precision gears, bearings, etc. in CNC machine tools, the tolerance can be controlled at the micron level.

2. Energy and resource extraction industry

Mining drilling: as the core material of rock drilling bits and cut-off teeth, it can penetrate rock layers with hardness over HRC 60 and reduce the frequency of equipment replacement by 50%.

Oil and gas: used in the manufacture of directional drilling tools, valve seals, resistance to underground high temperature (500 ℃ +) and acidic media corrosion.

Coal mining: equipped with interceptor teeth for coal miners, improving mining efficiency and reducing dust generation.

3. Aerospace and defence technology

Engine parts: used as turbine blade coating to resist 1600℃ gas washout and extend engine overhaul cycle.

Spacecraft structural components: used in rocket nozzles and satellite mounts to achieve lightweight and ultra-high strength.

Armour protection: used as a sandwich material in bullet-proof armour, dispersing the kinetic energy of bullets and improving protection performance by 40%.

4. Electronics and semiconductor manufacturing

PCB micro-hole processing: made into a micro-drill with a diameter of 0.1mm or less to meet the high-density wiring needs of 5G communication circuit boards.

Wafer cutting: diamond wire saw guides for cutting silicon wafers with an accuracy of ±1μm, reducing material loss.

Chip encapsulation moulds: maintain dimensional stability in high-temperature encapsulation process and increase yield rate to 99.9%.

5. Emerging field expansion

3D printing: as the powder raw material for metal additive manufacturing, directly moulding complex structural wear parts.

Hydrogen energy equipment: used in electrolysis tank corrosion-resistant pole plate, life expectancy than the traditional 316L stainless steel 8 times longer.

Medical devices: manufacturing orthopedic surgical drills, artificial joints, both biocompatible and long-lasting wear resistance.

As technology iteration in the cemented carbide industry continues to drive industrial upgrades. With the popularity of nano-coating, gradient sintering and other new processes, cemented carbide materials will play a more critical role in intelligent manufacturing, green energy and other fields, and become the ‘invisible spine’ to support the modern industrial system.