Hard Facing and Wear Protection
Crushed fused W₂C grit and fused carbide powder for overlay deposits that extend the life of wearing surfaces across agriculture, bulk handling and heavy industry.
Discuss your requirementOverview
Hard facing is the economics of putting an expensive material only where wear happens. A tungsten carbide overlay a few millimetres thick can multiply the service life of a wearing edge several times over, at a fraction of the cost of making the whole component from carbide — and it can be reapplied when it eventually wears through.
The material doing the work is crushed fused tungsten carbide, at roughly 3000 HV Vickers. That is several times the hardness of the hardened steel substrate and harder than most of the mineral phases that abrade it. The weld metal around it contributes almost nothing to wear resistance; its job is simply to hold the particles in place until they are undercut and shed.
That relationship is the key to specifying well. Overlay life is set by the balance between grit size, grit loading and matrix wear rate — not by grit hardness, which is effectively fixed. We supply grit in standard macro-grit bands of 30/40, 40/60, 60/80 and 100/120 mesh, and fused carbide powder from −40 to +600 mesh for matrix and infiltration work.
Products for this market
Hard Facing Tungsten Carbide Grit
Narrow macro-grit bands from 30/40 to 100/120 mesh give a predictable carbide density at the wear face, which is what makes overlay life quotable.
Full specificationsFused Tungsten Carbide Powder (W₂C)
Screened −40 to +600 mesh for matrix loading, infiltration powders and finer overlay deposits. Free carbon held to max. 0.003% to protect particle integrity.
Full specificationsWhere it is used
Wear plate and chute cladding
Overlay deposits on chutes, hoppers, liners and transfer points in mining, quarrying and bulk handling, where abrasive material is in constant sliding contact. Typically 60/80 mesh for mixed abrasion service.
Agricultural tillage tools
Points, shares, sweeps and tines working in sandy or stony soils. Grit overlay on the wearing edge can multiply service life several times at modest cost per part, which matters where a set of points is replaced every season.
Augers, mixers and screw conveyors
Flight edges on augers and mixer paddles wear fastest at the outer radius where relative velocity is highest. Selective overlay there is a common and cost-effective repair strategy.
Field repair and reclamation
Oxy-acetylene deposited tube-rod overlays remain the workhorse for field repair, because the lower heat input leaves more carbide intact in the deposit than faster arc processes do.
How to specify
Match grit to the abrasive, not the deposit
Large blocky abrasives that gouge call for 30/40 or 40/60. Fine slurries that polish call for 60/80 or 100/120. Selecting by deposit thickness is the most common error — thickness constrains the maximum, it does not indicate the optimum.
Account for your welding process
Higher heat input dissolves more carbide into the weld pool, and fine grit dissolves faster because it carries more surface area. If the process is hot, bias coarser or you will lose a meaningful fraction of what you paid for.
A narrow mesh band is worth paying for
Consistent particle size gives a predictable carbide density at the wear face. That predictability is what lets a repair shop quote a service life instead of guessing.
Consider matrix hardness alongside grit
A very coarse grit in a soft matrix sheds particles before they are worn out; a fine grit in a hard matrix may never expose enough carbide. Neither is fixed by changing mesh band alone.
Hard facing and wear protection — frequently asked questions
What tungsten carbide grit do you supply for hard facing?
Crushed fused tungsten carbide in standard macro-grit bands of 30/40, 40/60, 60/80 and 100/120 mesh, at approximately 3000 HV Vickers and apparent density 5.5–6.0 g/cc. Other bands can be screened to order for larger volumes.
How long does a tungsten carbide overlay last?
It depends on the abrasive, the grit band and the matrix, so anyone quoting a figure without knowing those is guessing. What can be said is that overlays typically extend the life of a wearing edge several times over, and that the deposit fails when the matrix can no longer hold the carbide rather than when the carbide wears out.
Which welding process is best for tungsten carbide hard facing?
Oxy-acetylene remains preferred for much repair work despite being slow, because the lower heat input leaves more carbide intact in the deposit. Arc processes are faster and suit production volumes but dissolve more carbide into the weld metal.
Can hard facing be reapplied when it wears through?
Yes, and that reclaimability is a large part of the economic case. A component can be re-clad repeatedly rather than replaced, which is why overlay is standard practice on high-value wearing parts.