εταιρικά νέα για What Is Recycled Tungsten Carbide ?

In the tungsten carbide industry, as global environmental regulations tighten, tungsten ore resources become scarcer, and the cost of virgin tungsten carbide raw materials rises, "recycled tungsten carbide" has gradually shifted from a "niche option" to a focus of industry attention. However, many professionals only understand it superficially as "waste material reuse," without clarity on what it actually is, whether its performance meets standards, or if it can replace virgin tungsten carbide. Simply put, recycled tungsten carbide is tungsten carbide powder or green compacts produced by processing, purifying, and reconditioning the composition of waste tungsten carbide products (such as used cutting tools, worn mining liners, and scrap from production processes) through professional recycling techniques. It retains the core properties of tungsten carbide—high hardness and wear resistance—while reducing resource waste and lowering production costs, making it a solution that balances environmental protection and economic benefits. This article breaks down recycled tungsten carbide from aspects of definition, recycling processes, core advantages, and application scenarios to help you understand its practical value and usage methods.

To understand recycled tungsten carbide, it is first necessary to distinguish its fundamental differences from "virgin tungsten carbide"—both have tungsten carbide (WC) as their core component, but their raw material sources and production paths are completely different.

Recycled tungsten carbide refers to tungsten carbide powder (or further pressed into green compacts and sintered into parts) that meets industrial standards, using "waste tungsten carbide products" as raw materials and undergoing collection, sorting, pretreatment, crushing, purification, and composition adjustment processes. These waste products include:

• Used tools: Worn drill bits, milling cutters, and lathe inserts (mostly WC-Co type).
• Wear part scrap: Mining liners, pump seals, and crusher teeth that are scrapped after use.
• Production scrap: Chips, leftover materials, and defective products generated during the processing of tungsten carbide parts.

Many people worry that "recycled" means "poor performance," but in reality, the differences between the two lie mainly in raw materials and cost, not core performance. The table below clearly distinguishes them:

The quality of recycled tungsten carbide depends entirely on the rigor of the recycling process. A formal process involves 6 core steps to ensure the final product meets standards:

• Sort by "composition": Separate waste products by binder type (e.g., WC-Co, WC-Ni) to avoid performance confusion caused by mixing different components (e.g., cobalt-based and nickel-based waste cannot be mixed).
• Remove impurities: Manually or mechanically remove non-tungsten carbide parts, such as steel shanks of tools and metal brackets of liners (these parts do not contain WC and need separate recycling).

• Cleaning: Use alkaline cleaners or ultrasonic cleaning to remove oil, soil, and coolant residues from the surface of waste materials (to avoid contaminating the powder in subsequent processes).
• Drying: Dry at 100–120°C to remove moisture (moisture affects the effectiveness of subsequent crushing and purification).

• Crushing: Use jaw crushers or impact crushers to break bulk waste (e.g., liners, inserts) into 10–20mm pieces.
• Grinding: Use ball mills (equipped with tungsten carbide balls) to grind the pieces into fine powder, with an initial particle size controlled at 5–20 micrometers (adjusted based on subsequent use).

This is the core step determining the purity of recycled tungsten carbide, mainly removing impurities such as iron, copper, and silicon (these impurities reduce the hardness and wear resistance of tungsten carbide):

• Magnetic separation: Use high-intensity magnetic equipment to remove ferromagnetic impurities (e.g., iron chips mixed during processing).
• Acid pickling: Soak the powder in dilute hydrochloric acid or nitric acid to dissolve non-magnetic impurities such as copper and aluminum.
• Water washing & drying: Rinse the powder with clean water until neutral after pickling, then dry to remove moisture.

Waste tungsten carbide may experience decreased WC content or loss of binders (e.g., cobalt) during use, requiring composition adjustment:

• Testing: Use a spectrometer to detect the content of WC and cobalt (or nickel) in the powder.
• Supplementing materials: Add pure WC powder or cobalt powder according to the target composition (e.g., if the cobalt content of the original waste is 6% and the target is 8%, add 2% cobalt powder).
• Mixing: Mix uniformly again using a ball mill to ensure consistent composition.

• For part production: Press the adjusted powder into green compacts, then sinter to produce recycled tungsten carbide parts (e.g., small liners, ordinary tools).
• As raw material: Package the powder directly as recycled tungsten carbide powder for downstream enterprises to use in production.

For tungsten carbide professionals, choosing recycled tungsten carbide is not only an "environmental responsibility" but also brings practical economic and production benefits, mainly reflected in 3 aspects:

The cost of virgin tungsten carbide is highly dependent on tungsten ore prices (tungsten ore accounts for over 60% of the cost of virgin tungsten carbide). In recent years, tungsten prices have fluctuated frequently due to supply and demand (e.g., tungsten powder prices rose by 18% year-on-year in 2023). The raw material for recycled tungsten carbide is waste products, so its cost is not directly affected by mineral prices and is 15%–30% lower than virgin tungsten carbide. Examples include:

• A tool factory using recycled WC-Co powder to produce ordinary drill bits reduced raw material costs by 22%, saving approximately 800,000 yuan annually.
• A mining enterprise recycled used liners to produce recycled tungsten carbide, then used it to manufacture new liners, reducing the cost of a single batch by 25%.

Global control over industrial solid waste is becoming stricter (e.g., China’s Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes, EU’s Waste Framework Directive). Random disposal of waste tungsten carbide not only wastes resources but may also cause environmental pollution due to heavy metals such as cobalt. The recovery rate of recycled tungsten carbide exceeds 90%, equivalent to "turning waste into treasure":

• 1 ton of recycled tungsten carbide saves 1.5 tons of tungsten ore mining and reduces 0.8 tons of smelting tailings discharge.
• Enterprises using recycled tungsten carbide can gain advantages in environmental certifications (e.g., ISO 14001) and policy subsidies (e.g., circular economy subsidies in some regions).

Many people worry that "recycled" means "poor performance," but in reality, after formal purification and composition adjustment, the core properties (hardness, wear resistance) of recycled tungsten carbide are close to those of virgin tungsten carbide:

• Hardness: Mohs 8.5–9, consistent with virgin tungsten carbide.
• Wear resistance: In mining liner tests, the wear loss of recycled WC-Co liners was only 5%–8% higher than that of virgin liners, fully meeting the needs of ordinary mines.
• Processability: The pressing and sintering processes of recycled powder are basically the same as those of virgin powder, requiring no modification of existing equipment (only minor adjustments to sintering temperature, usually increasing by 50–100°C).

Recycled tungsten carbide is not a "one-size-fits-all material" and should be selected based on performance requirements and scenarios. The table below shows common suitable and unsuitable scenarios:

Application Category	Specific Scenarios	Recommended for Use?	Core Reason
Low-end Wear Parts	Mining liners, conveyor scrapers, ordinary seals	Recommended	Low precision requirements, mainly requiring wear resistance; recycled tungsten carbide has obvious cost advantages and fully meets performance standards.
Mid-range Cutting Tools	Ordinary drill bits, woodworking milling cutters, low-speed lathe inserts	Recommended	For processing ordinary steel, wood, and other materials, the wear resistance of recycled tungsten carbide is sufficient, reducing tool costs.
Virgin Tungsten Carbide Raw Material Supplement	Mixing with virgin powder to produce parts (mixing ratio ≤30%)	Recommended	Mixed use reduces overall raw material costs without significantly affecting the performance of the final product (suitable for cost-sensitive mass production).
High-end Precision Parts	Precision molds, aerospace tools, medical tools	Not Recommended	Extremely high requirements for dimensional accuracy and hardness uniformity; recycled tungsten carbide may contain trace impurities, affecting product stability.
Extreme Condition Parts	High-temperature furnace internal parts (>800°C), high-pressure seals	Not Recommended	Under extreme environments, the composition uniformity of recycled tungsten carbide may be insufficient, leading to early failure.

To maximize the value of recycled tungsten carbide, pay attention to 3 key details to avoid product quality issues caused by improper operation:

• Core indicators: Impurity content (iron, copper, silicon, etc.) ≤0.5%, WC content deviation ≤2%, binder content deviation ≤0.5%.
• Testing method: Require suppliers to provide spectral test reports, or sample and test independently using X-ray fluorescence spectrometers (avoid purchasing "crudely made" recycled powder, which contains many impurities and easily causes part cracking).

The particle size distribution and apparent density of recycled tungsten carbide powder may differ slightly from virgin powder, requiring fine-tuning of production parameters:

• Pressing process: If the apparent density of recycled powder is low, appropriately increase the pressing pressure (e.g., from 500MPa to 550MPa) to ensure the green compact density meets standards.
• Sintering process: Recycled powder has slightly lower sintering activity; increase the sintering temperature by 50–100°C (e.g., from 1450°C to 1500°C) or extend the holding time (e.g., from 1 hour to 1.5 hours).

• Do not use recycled tungsten carbide to produce high-end, precision, or extreme-condition parts (e.g., precision molds, aerospace tools), as performance fluctuations may lead to customer complaints or product failure.
• When using it for the first time, conduct small-batch trial production (e.g., producing 100 ordinary tools) and only proceed to mass production after confirming performance compliance.

Fact: After formal purification and composition adjustment, recycled tungsten carbide has performance close to that of virgin tungsten carbide. It can be used not only for low-end wear parts but also for mid-range cutting tools (e.g., ordinary drill bits, milling cutters). Only in extreme precision or high-temperature/high-pressure scenarios is it necessary to prioritize virgin tungsten carbide.

Fact: In the short term, recycled tungsten carbide requires processing costs, but in the long term, its raw material cost is 15%–30% lower than that of virgin tungsten carbide, and it is not affected by tungsten price fluctuations. Especially for enterprises with large usage (e.g., mines, large tool factories), it can save hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan annually.

Fact: Not all waste is suitable. Waste with severe oxidation (e.g., a large amount of WO₃ formed on the surface after high-temperature use) or excessive impurities (e.g., mixed with a large amount of steel or aluminum) is difficult to purify, resulting in poor quality of the final product. It is not recommended for producing core parts (only suitable for low-end wear parts).

As tungsten resources become scarcer and environmental requirements continue to increase, recycled tungsten carbide is no longer an "optional supplementary material" but gradually becoming a "must-have option" in the tungsten carbide industry. It helps enterprises reduce costs, mitigate raw material price risks, reduce solid waste pollution, and align with policy trends—making it a win-win solution for "economic interests" and "environmental responsibility."

For professionals, the key is to "select rationally": prioritize recycled tungsten carbide in mid-range, mass-production scenarios with moderate performance requirements (e.g., ordinary tools, mining liners); in high-end precision or extreme-condition scenarios, still choose virgin tungsten carbide, or use a "virgin + recycled mixture" to balance cost and performance.

If your enterprise is considering using recycled tungsten carbide or is unsure whether a certain type of product is suitable for recycled materials, feel free to reach out. We can recommend appropriate specifications of recycled tungsten carbide and suppliers based on your product type and performance requirements.