Views: 0 Author: Yuna Publish Time: 2026-10-27 Origin: Site
A laser‑printed ceramic wear layer solves asynchronous wear for cold planers & cold recyclers — so carbide tips get fully consumed before picks are discarded.
Every road‑maintenance operator running cold planers and cold recyclers knows this common failure pattern: a milling pick is pulled out of the drum not because its tungsten carbide tip is worn out, but because the alloy‑steel body has eroded away. The carbide insert still retains 40‑55 % of its original volume, yet it loses lateral support, becomes loose, cracks, drops out, and cannot be re‑brazed for further service.
The steel body is the weak link by original design. Standard quenched‑and‑tempered steel bodies sit at only 45‑52 HRC. They cannot stand up to sharp quartz‑rich aggregates found in asphalt, concrete and recycled‑asphalt pavement (RAP). The industry accepts a harsh trade‑off: you pay for a full carbide tip, yet you only use roughly half of it before scrapping the pick.
The bigger loss is not the price of new picks — it is production downtime. Milling drum stops, drum housing opened, picks manually swapped out amid heavy dust, often squeezed into shift‑change windows. Throughput lost during pick change‑out frequently exceeds the material cost of the consumable picks themselves. Uneven body wear forces full‑drum premature replacement to keep correct cutting geometry for pavement milling.
Two picks. Same road‑milling shift. Very different service outcome.
CONVENTIONAL ROAD‑MILLING PICK Soft steel body, hard carbide tip Steel body erodes first. Carbide tip stands proud without side support and eventually fails. Carbide utilization at scrap: 40‑55%
HENGPU CERAMIC‑ARMOURED PICK Ceramic‑protected body, matched carbide tip Laser‑deposited ceramic armour shields the pick body. Body and carbide tip wear synchronously together. Carbide utilization at scrap: 85‑100%
We do not apply a thin surface coating onto milling picks. We print functional armour directly onto the high‑wear zones — a dense, metallurgically bonded ceramic‑composite material precisely deposited exactly where pavement abrasion occurs.
Using directed‑energy‑deposition (laser cladding), a focused laser creates a controlled melt pool on the pick body while ceramic‑metal composite powder is injected into the molten zone. Layer‑by‑layer, a 1.5‑4.0 mm thick wear‑resistant structure is built up and metallurgically fused to the steel substrate, not merely mechanically stuck on. No adhesive layers, no mechanical locking features, no heat‑induced softening of the pick shank.
STEP 1
Digital path planning Real‑world road‑milling wear‑map data defines material distribution: thicker ceramic composite on heavily abraded pick cheeks, gradually tapering thickness toward the carbide‑tip seat.
STEP 2
Surface activation Pick body cleaned and pre‑heated within controlled‑atmosphere conditions. Zero scale, zero surface contamination, zero porosity at the metallurgical bond interface.
STEP 3
Layer‑by‑layer robotic cladding Six‑axis laser deposition head builds the ceramic composite layer. Hardness and dilution rates are continuously monitored in real‑time during production.
STEP 4
Finish & tip brazing Machined and ground to drawing tolerances, fully inspected, then brazed with customer‑specified tungsten carbide tips. Finished picks are ready for direct installation on cold‑planer or cold‑recycler drums.
Tungsten‑carbide wears at a predictable rate. Unprotected steel body wears three‑to‑six times faster under silica‑rich pavement conditions. By tuning the ceramic‑layer wear‑rate to match the carbide tip consumption speed, the pick preserves its original cutting geometry across most of its working life.
Result: The carbide tip remains fully supported; picks stay effective longer; both body and carbide reach end‑of‑service‑life at nearly the same moment. You pay for one carbide tip — and you actually use one carbide tip.
Approach | Core weakness for pavement milling | Our laser‑clad ceramic composite layer |
|---|---|---|
Thicker / higher‑hardness steel body | Impact brittleness increases; still cannot resist quartz aggregate abrasion | High hardness without brittleness; graded composite interface absorbs cyclic milling impact |
HVOF / thermal‑spray coating | Only mechanical attachment; coating spalls under percussion; layer thinner than 0.5 mm | True metallurgical fusion; layer thickness 1.5‑4.0 mm; survives repeated milling shock loads |
Manual weld hard‑facing | High dilution, shank distortion, internal bead cracks, inconsistent batch hardness | Low dilution rate; robotic repeatable process; batch‑traceable hardness records |
Secondary carbide stud inserts | Higher cost, limited geometry options, localised stress concentrations | Conforms freely to complex milling‑pick cheek and head geometry |
Cold planers / asphalt milling machines — high‑silica asphalt & concrete; steel‑body abrasion is the primary limiting factor for pick service‑life. Cold‑in‑place recyclers — mixed RAP, crushed rock and base‑soil; combined heavy abrasion plus intermittent high impact. Trenchers for road‑utility works — continuous cutting; very narrow windows allowed for tool change‑out. Demolition scarifying tools — any road‑related application where steel body erosion ends pick service‑life while carbide tip still remains usable.
If your picks get replaced mainly because bodies wear away while carbide tips still have usable material left, this ceramic‑armour technology is built for your road‑maintenance fleet.
CERAMIC LAYER HARDNESS 60‑66 HRC (depends on selected composite grade for pavement‑working conditions)
BOND TYPE Metallurgical fusion via laser directed‑energy deposition
TIP COMPATIBILITY Works with all industry‑standard tungsten‑carbide tip grades and geometries for road‑milling & cold‑recycler applications
LAYER THICKNESS 1.5‑4.0 mm, variable‑thickness profile defined by road‑job wear‑map data
PRODUCT FORM Fully finished ready‑to‑install road‑milling / cold‑recycler picks
MINIMUM ORDER Negotiable by pick model and ceramic‑layer specification
QUALITY DOCUMENTATION Per‑batch inspection reports including hardness test, layer‑thickness log and bonding‑quality verification
Share four key pieces of information and we will prepare your proposal:
Pick OEM part‑number or 2D engineering drawing
Required tungsten‑carbide tip grade for your milling task
Milled‑material description (asphalt / concrete / RAP / cold‑recycled base; note quartz/silica content if known)
Expected monthly pick consumption volume
We confirm ceramic‑layer grade, variable‑thickness print profile and unit price within 24 working hours. Field trial samples can be arranged for real‑jobsite performance validation.
Contact Us Reply within 24 business hours!
6.Meet Hengpu Laser at bauma CHINA 2026 | Booth E1.160
We are also excited to meet you at bauma CHINA 2026! Come and explore our laser ceramic‑armoured road milling picks, cold recycler picks and mining wear solutions at Booth E1.160, SNIEC. Our technical team is ready to discuss your pavement rehabilitation and mining tool challenges, share field test data and customised wear‑resistance plans. Looking forward to your visit and face‑to‑face cooperation discussion!
