The Premium buttons
In rock drilling, the buttons make the hard work of crushing the rock. Cemented carbide is one of the few materials that can do this without breaking. The inherent toughness prevents breakage. The high hardness gives a low wear. Together the customer gets a long service life. For standard carbide there is however always a trade-off between hardness and toughness. A higher hardness gives lower wear, but decreases the toughness. A higher toughness lower the risk of breakage, especially in hard rock, but decreases the hardness.
In order to further increase the service life of our drilling bits, Epiroc has managed to improve three parameters at the same time. The new patented Premium carbide buttons have both an increased hardness and a higher toughness at the same time! Simplified, we have a very good core carbide material in the center of the button. This good core carbide can be chosen with a suitable trade-off between hardness and toughness, depending on the rock and other circumstances. This good core carbide has been substantially improved with patented methods. Towards the surface of the carbide button, both the toughness and hardness is increased at the same time. Therefore the improved carbide can handle even harder rock and achieve longer life. We call it our Premium carbide!
The third improved parameter is the shape of the carbide button. Normally the part of the button at the outer surface, towards the diameter of the hole, is worn more than other parts of the carbide button. This outer part is normally comparatively small. The new patented shape is formed to give the maximum amount of carbide material close to the outer diameter, not only a small tip. By having more carbide material close to the outer diameter, the wear of the bit diameter is less. Therefore the decrease of the hole diameter will become slower. We call it our Trubbnos button!
Read more about Powerbit Underground here!
