Wear characteristics of the cemented carbide blades in drilling limestone with water jet

Drilling hard rock with water jet is considered to be an efficient way to improve the work life of the cemented carbide blade. In this paper, cemented carbide material YG-6 is used on the drill bit in limestone drilling with water jet. Wear characteristics of the cemented carbide blades in drilling limestone with water jet is studied. Experiment results showed that the water jet pressure and nozzle diameter played an important influence on the wear rates of the cemented carbide blades in the drill bits. The wear rates of YG-6 blades decreased when the jet pressure increased. But the decline speed of wear rates was not even, it declined more and more slowly when the jet pressure upon 10 MPa. It was also showed that wear rates decrease with the increase of the nozzle diameter in the drill bit, for the bigger nozzle diameter could provide more impact force which could reduce the mechanical force on the YG-6 blades. SEM photographs were taken to characterize the wear mechanism of the cemented carbide blades in limestone drilling with water jet. Surface analysis demonstrated that cemented carbide blades in limestone drilling with water jet showed circular action of brittle fracture, grain pullout and polishing, which induced material removal process. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.