Superior hardfacing materials, such as Ni-WC blends, are commonly applied to rock-engaging regions of oil & gas drill bits and other downhole tools to provide sufficient wear protection. In this work, it was found that drill bits were subjected to severe high-stress abrasive wear while rubbing against rock formations. The wear behavior of drill bits could be appropriately evaluated by the wear test in accordance with ASTM standard B611 rather than ASTM standard G65. This work also found that the toughness of tungsten carbides was a predominant factor determining high-stress abrasion resistance of Ni-WC hardfacing. Any choices from various types, sizes, and shapes of tungsten carbides would contribute to the improvements of wear resistance as long as this choice delivered better toughness, such as cemented tungsten carbide and spherical tungsten carbide. Large particle size was also beneficial for reinforcing wear resistance, but played a secondary role as compared to carbide toughness. Therefore, large-sized cemented tungsten carbide pellets provided the best high-stress abrasion resistance for drill bits, with large-sized spherical tungsten carbide being a close second. In addition, the comprehensive hardness of Ni-WC composite could be well represented using a linearly additive approach. The calculated hardness established a strong positive correlation with the wear behavior of Ni-WC hardfacing.

优质的堆焊材料，例如 Ni-WC 混合物，通常应用于石油和天然气钻头和其他井下工具的岩石接合区域，以提供足够的磨损保护。在这项工作中，发现钻头在与岩层摩擦时会受到严重的高应力磨料磨损。可以根据ASTM标准B611而不是ASTM标准G65通过磨损试验来适当地评估钻头的磨损行为。这项工作还发现，碳化钨的韧性是决定 Ni-WC 堆焊的高应力耐磨性的主要因素。从各种类型、尺寸和形状的碳化钨中进行任何选择都有助于提高耐磨性，只要这种选择提供更好的韧性，如硬质碳化钨和球形碳化钨。大粒径也有利于增强耐磨性，但与碳化物韧性相比起次要作用。因此，大尺寸硬质合金球团为钻头提供了最好的高应力耐磨性，大尺寸球形碳化钨紧随其后。此外，Ni-WC 复合材料的综合硬度可以使用线性相加方法很好地表示。计算出的硬度与 Ni-WC 堆焊的磨损行为建立了很强的正相关关系。大尺寸硬质合金球团为钻头提供了最佳的高应力耐磨性，大尺寸球形碳化钨紧随其后。此外，Ni-WC 复合材料的综合硬度可以使用线性相加方法很好地表示。计算出的硬度与 Ni-WC 堆焊的磨损行为建立了很强的正相关关系。大尺寸硬质合金球团为钻头提供了最佳的高应力耐磨性，大尺寸球形碳化钨紧随其后。此外，Ni-WC 复合材料的综合硬度可以使用线性相加方法很好地表示。计算出的硬度与 Ni-WC 堆焊的磨损行为建立了很强的正相关关系。