Integrated Computational Materials, Process and Product Engineering – IC-MPPE 2022

Rotary-percussive drilling in steel reinforced concrete subjects cemented tungsten carbide hammer drill bits to intensive wear from many active wear mechanisms as well as high mechanical and thermo-mechanical loading which may lead to premature failure due to overload or fatigue fracture. To ensure the required component lifetime and reliability in this challenging application, a large number of varied but ultimately complementary testing methods are necessary. Whether it is measuring the composition of the raw materials at parts per million accuracy or testing finished parts in drilling tests running to millions of impact load cycles and Megajoules of energy, great effort is used to characterise the materials, components and assemblies that make up a hammer drill bit. This presentation will highlight the micro-, meso- and macrosopic physical, mathematical and simulation-based testing methods employed to better understand the cause and effect chain of processing <-> microstructure <-> properties <-> performance for cemented tungsten carbide hammer drill bits. You might just be surprised how much science and engineering is behind this seemingly simple part that you use to make holes with!