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ALTERNATIVES SOUGHT FOR EXPENSIVE RAW MATERIALS
Research into new binding agents pays off

Research and development play a major role at Betek and continually enable the company to make great progress.

The list of research projects is long – and is added to daily. At the moment, for instance, the search for alternatives to the traditional raw materials used in tungsten carbide production is right near the top. Cobalt, for example, is a material that is used in tungsten carbide production as a binding agent that holds the WC grains together. Depending on the type of tungsten carbide, the proportion of cobalt is between 6 and 15%. There are numerous ways in which cobalt can be used in the global high-tech industry and the silvery metal is a raw material that is very much in demand – which is ultimately reflected in the price. This fluctuates greatly and climbed in early 2007 to 60 dollars per kilogram, a doubling of the price 12 months earlier. That is incentive enough for Dr Wolfgang Strelsky, Head of Research and Development at Betek, to be searching for alternatives. Initial field tests with tools for stone crushing are already showing that the painstaking research is paying off. Tungsten carbide tools that have been produced using alternative binding agents are already proving extremely impact resistant – more work just needs to be done on their wear resistance, according to the indications from the lab.

The research is thus paying off – and creating greater independence from the raw materials market, plus the accustomed progress!