Patent ID: 6984454

Claim:
A tough wear-resistant hard member comprising: a hard composite member; a support having a surface area adjacent to the hard composite member; the hard composite member affixed to the support over at least a portion of the adjacent surface area of the support; the hard composite member comprising a plurality of discrete hard constituents distributed in the hard composite member, each one of the discrete hard constituents is of a size so as to have a surface area between about 0.001 square inches and about 16 square inches; the hard composite member further comprising a matrix powder comprising hard particles wherein substantially all of the hard particles have a size smaller than the size of the hard constituents; the hard composite member further comprising an infiltrant alloy having a melting point between about 500 degrees Centigrade and about 1400 degrees Centigrade, and the infiltrant alloy being infiltrated under heat into a mixture of the discrete hard constituents and the matrix powder so as to not effectively degrade the hard constituents upon infiltration, whereby the hard constituents and the matrix powder and the infiltrant alloy are bonded together to form the hard composite member; the support being made of a material that is bondable with the infiltrant alloy whereby the infiltrant alloy forms a joint at the joinder of the support and the hard composite member, and where the matrix powder comprises between about 50 weight percent to about 70 weight percent crushed tungsten carbide particles having a particle size of −80+325 mesh, between about 24 weight percent and about 32 weight percent crushed cast tungsten carbide particles having a particle size of −325 mesh, between about 0.8 weight percent and about 1.2 weight percent steel particles having a particle size of −325 mesh, between about 0.8 and 1.2 weight percent carbonyl iron particles having a particle size of −325 mesh, between 0 weight percent and about 7 weight percent chromium carbide particles having a particle size of −45 mesh, between 0 weight percent and about 25 weight percent nickel-coated tungsten carbide particles having a particle size of −325 mesh, and between 0 weight percent and about 15 weight percent crushed cemented chromium carbide-nickel particles having a particle size of −140+325 mesh.