Cobalt drill bits make for optimal high-temperature applications and offer extreme durability. Cobalt drill bits can work longer without cutting fluids or cooldown periods, cutting through materials including cast iron, titanium, bronze, and stainless steel.
Carbide drill bits boast unparalleled strength, making them indispensable for tasks where only the toughest option will suffice. Comprising tungsten and carbon, these bits are crafted from one of the strongest metals available.
Carbide. Tungsten Carbide is by far the strongest drill bit available for any user. Drill bits manufactured from Carbide are tough and extremely hard with a high heat dissipation.
Carbide is more temperature resistant and can also be ran 2-3 times faster than HSS. This means you can maximize your output on a production line by using a Carbide tool. Car- bide is also extremely hard, letting them keep a sharper edge longer and making them more suitable for abrasive materials.
Titanium-coated HSS drill bits produce less friction. They're tougher than basic HSS bits and stay sharp longer. They work for drilling wood, metal, fiberglass and PVC. Carbide-tipped drill bits stay sharp much longer than steel, HSS or titanium bits.
Not only does carbide provide cutting speeds at least four to eight times that of cobalt, but far higher feedrates as well. And because carbide drills also support a feature unavailable with their cobalt cousins—coolant through-the-tool—there's no need to peck.
Hardness: Both titanium and tungsten carbide are considerably harder than precious metals like gold and platinum. However, tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials in existence and substantially harder than titanium, registering a 9 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness (compared to titanium's score of 6).
Tungsten carbide, the core component, is much harder and more wear-resistant than steel. This makes carbide bits highly durable but also expensive to produce. Other factors contributing to the higher cost include: Advanced manufacturing techniques.
HSS tools are popular because they are more cost-effective for short manufacturing runs and they also hold a sharper edge than carbide cutting tools.
Superabrasive, diamond plated tools have a major edge over carbide—longevity and cut-rate set diamond tools apart from the rest. Initially, a diamond tool will cost more money, but this investment goes toward the extended life of the bit. Additionally, diamond tools have a closer cut tolerance than carbide does.
Choose a Cobalt Bit
The material from which a drill bit is made will affect its strength and overall longevity. Cobalt drill bits, for instance, are known for being the strongest on the market. They feature a cobalt content of about 5% to 8%, which makes them stronger than both stainless steel and titanium bits.
A Comparison: Cobalt or HSS? Cobalt is stronger than HSS, making it better for heavy duty drilling applications with a more rapid high-speed endurance. Cobalt also offers the advantage of being more heat resistant over standard HSS, allowing for longer running time performance when undertaking any drilling activity.
Mechanics Length: Mechanics-length drill bits have a shorter flute then jobber-length bits, but they are stronger and more rigid, so they are less likely to break.
Higher Cutting Speeds: Due to their superior hardness and heat resistance, TCT annular cutters can handle higher cutting speeds compared to HSS cutters. This results in faster material removal and reduced machining time.
Vanadium carbide is the inorganic compound with the formula VC. It is an extremely hard and refractory ceramic material. With a hardness of 9-9.5 Mohs, it is possibly the hardest metal-carbide known. It is of interest because it is prevalent in vanadium metal and alloys.
Carbide is particularly effective in high-performance machining environments, where conditions are more demanding. However, unlike high-speed steel, carbide is more brittle. Its extreme hardness makes it more likely to break under excessive stress, especially in high-shock or high-vibration situations.
Lack of Toughness
A weakness of carbide drills is their low toughness. Low toughness means that the tool is more likely to break under bending or vibration, requiring proper management of chips which can cause these issues.
Carbide drill bits are formed from some of the planet's hardest materials. This means that carbide drill bits are much harder, but also suffer from a higher level of fragility, than titanium drill bits, which are crafted from high-speed steel, a material with a high strength and low fragility.
There are some subtle but noticeable visual differences between carbide and HSS. Carbide tends to display a darker grey hue, while HSS comes in a much brighter silver, but the finish on the shanks is reversed: carbide has a glossier, reflective shine while HSS usually has a more muted, matte finish.
Here are the top-ranked carbide drill companies as of January, 2025: 1. Melin Tool, 2. Star Cutter Company, 3. Kennametal Inc..
Regardless of what type of object or surface you are drilling into, your drill bit will heat up. Drill bits produce friction as they scoop out material, and heat is the byproduct of this friction. While some heat is to be exposed, excessive heat may cause drill bits to break.
Tungsten-carbide masonry and concrete drill bits are the hardest wearing and most aggressive of all metal bits, capable of cutting through heavy-duty steel rebar over and over again. Almost indestructible, these drill bits offer a high level of robustness that directly translates to a longer product lifespan.
Diamond is extremely hard—even harder than tungsten carbide—making it an excellent material for cutting tool edges. Some advantages of polycrystalline diamond as a tooling material include: Extreme hardness. Low friction and high wear resistance.
Tungsten given enough velocity will go through pretty much anything, this isn't something you want with bullets both because you usually do not want bullets to go beyond their targets and that a bullet needs to be able to dump it's energy into the body to be effective.