Home / Tungsten carbide alternative
The tungsten carbide alternative for stainless parts.
Machine the part to final spec. We harden it. It is ready to install. NEXT-Phase™ gives stainless steel tungsten-carbide-class surface hardness with no coating, no undercut, no spray booth and no diamond grinding — so it costs less and comes back faster.
1000–1500HV0.05
NEXT-Phase™ surface hardness, against 1050–1350 HV for typical HVOF WC-Co
0grinding
Parts are treated at final dimensions. Nothing to grind back to size
5–7days
Typical lead time, from receipt of parts to shipment
1step
One treatment in place of undercut, blast, mask, spray, grind and finish
The workflow
Six steps and two vendors, or one.
A thermal spray coating is a layer you add and then machine back to size, so the part has to be designed, machined and finished around it. NEXT-Phase™ is a diffusion treatment of the metal itself. The part you machine is the part you install.
Tungsten carbide thermal spray
- Step 1Machine the coated area undersize to leave room for the coating
- Step 2Grit blast to roughen the surface for adhesion
- Step 3Mask every area that must not be sprayed
- Step 4Spray WC-Co, typically 75–380 µm thick, line of sight only
- Step 5Diamond grind back to the finished dimension
- Step 6Superfinish, seal if required, and inspect the bond and porosity
NEXT-Phase™
- Step 1Machine the part to its final drawing dimensions and finish
- Step 2Ship it to us. We clean, activate and harden it in a low-and-slow cycle, with coupons in every load
- ReadyIt comes back hardened, in tolerance and ready to install, typically in 5–7 days
No undercut. No masking. No grinding. No coating to inspect for bond strength or porosity.
Head to head
NEXT-Phase™ versus tungsten carbide thermal spray.
| NEXT-Phase™ | Tungsten carbide thermal spray (HVOF WC-Co) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Diffusion zone in the stainless itself | Sprayed coating bonded onto the surface |
| Surface hardness | 1000–1500 HV | 1050–1350 HV |
| Hardened depth | 10–50 µm | 75–380 µm coating |
| Part design | Machine to final spec | Undercut to allow for coating thickness |
| After treatment | Ready to install | Diamond grinding and finishing to size |
| Bores, threads, blind holes | Treated uniformly | Line of sight only; most internal features cannot be coated |
| Edges and corners | Hardened like every other surface | Coating is weakest at edges and is prone to chip there |
| Chipping and spalling | None — no interface | Bond-limited; can chip under impact or bending |
| Corrosion | Stainless corrosion resistance retained | Depends on porosity, binder and sealing; can corrode at the interface |
| Masking | Not required — the whole part is treated | Required on every area that must stay uncoated |
| Fatigue life | Improved by compressive surface stress | Can reduce it |
| Lead time | 5–7 days | Multiple process steps, often across more than one vendor |
Tungsten carbide figures are typical published values for HVOF WC-12Co (HTS Coatings), given for orientation rather than as vendor-specific claims.
Cost
Why it costs less.
Most of the cost of a carbide-coated part is not the powder. It is the work around the coating. NEXT-Phase™ removes that work.
- No undercut machining. Machine once, to the final drawing.
- No masking or grit blasting. Parts are cleaned and treated as they arrive.
- No diamond grinding. Often the most expensive step in a carbide coating job, and gone entirely.
- Batch processing. Many parts are treated in one load instead of one at a time under a spray gun.
- One vendor, one shipment. No routing between machine shop, sprayer and grinder.
- Fewer rejects. There is no bond to fail and no coating to chip in handling or service.
Straight answer
When tungsten carbide is still the right call.
We would rather tell you up front. Thermal spray remains the better choice in a few cases, and we will say so when we see your part.
- Rebuilding worn parts. Spray adds material to restore dimensions; diffusion hardening does not.
- Very heavy abrasive wear that needs a hard layer hundreds of microns thick.
- Carbon and low-alloy steel substrates. NEXT-Phase™ is for stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant alloys.
Is NEXT-Phase™ as hard as tungsten carbide?
At the surface, yes. NEXT-Phase™ reaches 1000–1500 HV0.05 on austenitic stainless, which overlaps the typical 1050–1350 HV range for HVOF WC-Co. The hardened zone is thinner, 10–50 µm, so it suits galling, sliding wear, fretting and erosion rather than gross abrasion or dimensional rebuild.
Do I need to change my drawing?
Usually you remove steps from it. There is no coating allowance or undercut, so the part is machined straight to its finished dimensions, and the note calling for thermal spray and grinding is replaced with a NEXT-Phase™ treatment callout.
Will the part still be in tolerance after treatment?
In almost all cases. Dimensional change is at the micron scale and surface finish is essentially preserved, so parts go straight into service with no post-treatment machining. For very tight tolerances we measure trial parts before and after and give you the numbers.
Is it cheaper than tungsten carbide coating?
In most cases, yes, because the undercut machining, masking, grit blasting, diamond grinding and extra vendor handling are no longer needed. Send us the part and quantity and we will quote it against what you pay today.
How fast is it?
Typical lead time is 5–7 days from receipt of parts to shipment. The cycle itself is low and slow; your turnaround is not.
Send us a part. We will tell you what it can do.
Share a drawing, the alloy, and the failure mode you are fighting. We will recommend a process route and run a sample trial with a metallurgical report before you commit to production.