Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-10-12 Origin: Site
A 3D laser-printed ceramic wear layer that turns the soft steel tooth body into the hardest part of the pick. The body and the tungsten carbide tip now consume at the same rate — so you stop throwing away half-used carbide.
+200% | 62–66 HRC | 1:1 | ~30% |
Every mining, tunneling, milling and trenching operator knows the pattern: a cutting pick is withdrawn not because its tungsten carbide tip is finished, but because the alloy steel body behind it has worn away.
The tip, still half its original volume, loses support, cracks, falls out or simply becomes impossible to braze again.
The tooth body is the weakest link by design. Quenched-and-tempered steel at 45–52 HRC cannot survive quartz, granite, concrete or slag.
So the industry accepts a brutal arithmetic:
pay for a full carbide tip, use half of it, discard the rest.
The real loss is not the pick. It is the stoppage. |
• Drum rotation stopped, cutter head opened, picks changed by hand — in a dust cloud, on a shift change. |
CONVENTIONAL PICK |
The steel body erodes first. The carbide tip is left proud, then unsupported, then lost. |
OUR PICK |
The laser-clad ceramic layer protects the body. Body and tip recede together. |
We do not coat the pick. We print an armor onto it — a dense, metallurgically bonded ceramic composite deposited exactly where the wear happens, in the geometry the wear path demands.
Using directed-energy deposition (laser cladding), a focused laser melts a thin track on the pick body while a ceramic-metal powder feedstock is injected into the melt pool.
Layer by layer, a 1.5–4.0 mm wear-resistant structure is built up, fused to the substrate rather than stuck to it.
There is no adhesive, no mechanical key, no heat-affected softening of the shank.
STEP 01 Digital path planning |
Wear maps from field data define where material is placed — thick on the cheek, tapered to nothing at the tip seat. |
STEP 02 Surface activation |
The body is cleaned and preheated under controlled atmosphere. No scale, no contamination, no porosity at the bond. |
STEP 03 Layer-by-layer cladding |
Robotic 6-axis laser head deposits the ceramic composite. Hardness and dilution are monitored in real time. |
STEP 04 Finish & braze |
Ground to tolerance, inspected, then tipped with your specified tungsten carbide grade. Ready to run. |
Tungsten carbide wears at a known, predictable rate. An unarmored steel body wears three to six times faster.
By matching the ceramic layer's wear rate to the carbide tip's, the pick maintains its designed cutting geometry for most of its life.
Result: The tip stays supported, the pick stays sharp longer, and both components reach end-of-life at the same time.
You buy one carbide tip and actually use one carbide tip.
Approach | What goes wrong | Our laser-clad ceramic layer |
Thicker / harder steel body | Brittleness rises, impact fractures, still loses to quartz | Hardness without the brittleness — graded interface absorbs impact |
Thermal spray / HVOF coating | Bond is mechanical; spallation under impact; thin (<0.5 mm) | Metallurgical fusion; 3–8× thicker; survives percussion |
Weld-deposited hardfacing | High dilution, distorted shank, cracked beads, unpredictable hardness | Low dilution, robotic repeatability, documented hardness per batch |
Carbide insert studs | Expensive, limited geometry, stress concentrators | Conforms to any pick geometry, including curved cheeks |
Longwall shearer drums — abrasive coal with stone partings; pick changes per face advance drop sharply.
Roadheader / tunneling booms — rock abrasion plus intermittent impact; tip retention is the bottleneck.
Cold planers / asphalt milling — highly siliceous aggregate is the classic body-wear application.
Trenchers & rock saws — continuous cutting, no room for a change-out window.
Rotary tillers / ripper shanks — soil with flint, slag, recycled concrete.
Demolition & dredging tools — any duty where steel erosion defeats the carbide.
If your picks are changed because the body is gone while the tip still has life, this technology is built for you.
CERAMIC LAYER HARDNESS | 60–66 HRC (dependent on grade) |
LAYER THICKNESS | 1.5–4.0 mm, graded to geometry |
BOND TYPE | Metallurgical fusion (laser cladding) |
PRODUCT FORM | Finished cutting picks, ready to braze and run |
TIP COMPATIBILITY | All standard tungsten carbide tip grades and geometries |
MINIMUM ORDER | Negotiable per pick model and layer specification |
LEAD TIME | Quotation within 24 hours; production schedule confirmed per batch |
QUALITY DOCUMENTATION | Hardness report, thickness check, bond inspection per batch |
Tell us four things and we can quote:
(1) pick model or drawing,
(2) carbide tip grade required,
(3) rock or material cut (including silica / quartz content if known),
(4) monthly consumption volume.
From there we confirm the layer grade, a thickness map and a unit price — and we stand behind the resulting wear curve.
Life extension varies with rock abrasivity, cutting speed, drum rpm, feed pressure and pick spacing.
In highly abrasive siliceous rock the gain is largest, because the body is the limiting part. In predominantly impact-dominated duties the gain is smaller but still present, as tip retention improves.
The layer is specified to the duty, not the other way around.
Send us your pick model, your carbide grade, your rock — and we will send back a specification and a firm price.
Twenty-four hours. No trial program, no toll processing, no fine print.
Response within 24 business hours · Drawings and samples handled confidentially
Hengpu (Ningbo) Laser Technology Co., Ltd.
— Ceramic Wear Layer Technology for Engineering Cutting Tools
— Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
We manufacture and sell our own finished cutting picks. We do not provide toll cladding, contract processing, or process licensing to third parties.
