Hard metal wear resistence

Probably one of the main characteristics of hard metal is its resistance to wear.
When two surfaces slide one against the other, the material is removed
from both surfaces.

If the load is low, single grains of the metal are removed. This is the friction.

If the load is heavy, grain aggregates are removed. This process is known
as abrasion. Both of them, that is loss of material from surface, contribute to
the wear.

Basically wear is influenced by the dimension of the grain of tungsten carbide
and by the cobalt content. We can sum up this influence as follows:

•The smaller the grain dimension, the higher the TRS
•The lower the cobalt content, the higher the resistance to wear.

Therefore, wear is strictly connected with toughness.