Tungsten Carbide Tire Studs

Are you in the scorching northern hemisphere now? Or in the cold southern hemisphere? The seasons will change again in any case. We will eventually need the tire studs owing to the change of weather, especially in the cold and wet weather.

Tungsten carbide are mainly embedded in car tires to prevent the car from slipping on wet ice surface and are very popular in many European countries’ markets.

The tire studs used in the ice road include the core head, the wing of meddle part and the flange of the bottom in the cylinder. The wing and flange form an acute angle with the stud body. When the anti-skid nail is applied to the tread of a tire, it is not only easy to install, but also can prevent from falling off. According to the different usage and grooves, different specifications have different requirements. However, the requirement for the material is pretty much the same. For example, the material should own the properties, such as wear resistance, low heat resistance and high hardness. 

Compared with tire studs of other materials, tungsten carbide tire studs own a lot of excellent properties, such as high hardness and wear-resistance. In addition, they have low pressure on the surface and can prevent the car from skidding on the basis of minimal damage. It is easy to install and can be reused.

Holes in car tires that are used to insert tungsten carbide tire studs can be easily punched out, and can be easily removed without professional tools. Besides, users can install and disassemble the tungsten carbide tire studs according to different seasons. They can be easily removed and stored for the next re-installation. When users select the tungsten carbide tire studs, they should first consider the thickness of the tire itself and the depth of the hole.

Generally, the installation of tungsten carbide tire studs is to insert the studs into steel bushing, and then insert the whole package into the tire surface. In this way, the force area of the tire can be enlarged and the tire can play a certain protective role. In the course of driving, under a certain force, the studs can be properly embedded in the ice surface, so as to enhance the grip of the tire on the icy road and greatly reduce the skidding of the car. As a result, the accident frequency decreases. 

The production process of tungsten carbide tire studs can be divided into four phases.

1. Removal of binders and pre-sintering phase

At the beginning of sintering, the binder gradually decomposes or vaporizes with the increase of temperature. Meanwhile, the binder more or less increases the carbon content of sintered body. The amount of carbon added will vary with the binder types, amount of binder and the sintering processes. The oxide of the powder surface is reduced. At the sintering temperature, hydrogen can reduce the oxides of cobalt and tungsten. The carbon-oxygen reaction is not strong enough during the vacuum removal of binder and sintering. The contact stress between the powder particles is gradually eliminated, and the bonded metal powder begins to recrystallize. And then surface diffusion begins to occur. The strength of the compact increases.

2. Solid phase sintering;

At the temperature before the appearance of the liquid phase, in addition to the process that occurs in the previous stage, the solid phase reaction and diffusion are intensified. The plastic flow accelerates and the sintered body begins to shrink obviously.

3) Liquid phase sintering 

When the liquid phase appears, the shrinkage is quickly completed. The following crystallization forms the basic structure of the alloy.

4) Cooling phase

At this stage, the structure and phase composition of tungsten steel vary with the change of cooling conditions. This feature can be utilized to improve the physical and mechanical properties of tungsten carbide through the thermal treatment.

Now, you can understand why tungsten carbide tire studs are useful for tire of automobile. The anti-skid nail is easily consumable. However, the tungsten carbide tire stud can reduce the replacement because of high hardness and wear resistance.

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