Tungsten Carbide Plate Versus Tungsten Drop
Tungsten, the hardest metallic element known, has long been used for its exceptional wear resistance properties. While companies often incorporate Tungsten particles into welding wire matrices for wear protection, the effectiveness of these materials can be compromised when the matrix wears away, causing the carbide particles to fall out.
At JADCO, we take a different approach with our CHROMEWELD™ W Tungsten Carbide Overlay Plate. This innovative solution goes beyond simply dropping Tungsten carbides onto the surface—it ensures that the carbides are embedded throughout the deposit, offering superior durability and wear resistance. In this article, we’ll explore the key differences between Tungsten Carbide Plates and Tungsten Drops, highlighting how our unique process control leads to longer-lasting, more effective wear protection for your equipment.
Tungsten, with the chemical symbol ‘W’ from its German name Wolfram. Wolfram comes from wolframite, one of the most common Tungsten ores. The name Tungsten is actually Swedish and translates to “heavy stone” in English.
Here you can see the 8 – 12 mesh size of these Tungsten carbide particles used with the Tungsten drop process in welding.
Tungsten carbide particles are dropped into the molten weld pool.
The carbide particles sit at the top of the weld deposit and are frozen in place as the weld cools.
You see a lot of dropped carbides in industrial applications on leading edges. As seen on this bark hammer, providing aggressive wear resistance. This is the area where the majority of wear occurs on the hammer. Adding Tungsten carbide to this area greatly extends hammer life for the wood fiber industry.
Most companies applying Tungsten particles drop them into a tool steel type welding wire matrix. When the matrix starts wearing away the top surface, the carbide particles fall out rather than become worn down. When the carbides are missing, there goes your wear protection.
The Matrix Makes The Real Difference In CHROMEWELD ™ W, JADCO’s Tungsten Carbide Overlay Plate
JADCO developed CHROMEWELD ™ W, our Tungsten carbide overlay plate. It is important to understand, this plate is more than just Tungsten carbides dropped onto the surface. We are forming carbides throughout the thickness of the deposit.
JADCO drops the Tungsten Carbide particles into the CHROMEWELD ™ 600 matrix as seen above. This means you are getting the wear resistance benefit of CHROMEWELD 600 chemistry, the industry’s leading chrome carbide plate. PLUS, we add in the toughness from the Tungsten Carbide particles.
CHROMEWELD W has Tungsten carbides throughout the weld deposit, in our chrome carbide matrix. This provides extended wear life, even in high temperature applications.
When we drop the carbides into the weld pool, we want them throughout the deposit, to go all the way down to the bottom. We don’t want them to flash freeze only on the surface.
In production it is difficult to achieve the right feed and speed to make this happen, for the carbides to make it through the weld, down to the base metal. It is tough to control, which is why other competitors do not offer a Tungsten product with similar performance.
When we take a cross sectional view of the deposit, you want the Tungsten carbides all the way down into the line of dilution. In a perfect scenario, you want to get them down 1/16” or an 1/8” into to base metal.
This is where the process control is absolutely critical. If you add too much Tungsten, it will make the plate not user friendly and brittle. You can form it a little, but not a lot. Adding excess Tungsten will also make the plate very expensive.
This is another example of why the CHROMEWELD ™ family of clad products is not a “One Size Fits All” wear plate. Our customers rely on JADCO to continually create new products, to tackle their specific wear challenges.
Our Research and Development of these state-of-the-art wear resistant products have already been proven in real world applications. Before you ever install them in your equipment.
For more than 44 years, JADCO has focused exclusively on delivering consistent, longer life for our customers.
Now you understand why we are able to deliver better results to our customers. We think differently by focusing on improving your performance results. At JADCO, we simply deliver better results for our customers.
Allow us to help you today by emailing us at info@jadcomfg.com or calling (724) 452-5252.
We will schedule a meeting with one of our local wear plate specialists at a time that best fits your schedule.
Remember, the only thing you have to lose by not working with JADCO, are your profits.
When your usual clad plate gives out, give JADCO a shout!
