During the whole rock drilling process, the rock drill bit directly continuously impacts and crushes the rock violently, so Its service life is directly related to the level of rock drilling cost. Rock drilling efficiency plays an important role in the whole mine production and the progress and benefit of engineering construction. Therefore, if you want to lower the drilling cost, one of the points is to increase the service life of the rock drill bit. So how to improve the service life of the rock drill bit? Before that, let’s first understand the factors that affect the service life of the rock drill bit.

The factors affecting the rock drill bit’s service life mainly include internal and external factors.

1、 The internal factors mainly come from the rock drill bit itself, such as the intrinsic quality of the alloy, the carbide button shape, and the rock drill bit shape. For example, the rock drill bit body is a flat face, drop center, and semi-dome, and its rock drilling effect is very different. Please refer to the table below for details.

Bit face	Application	Rock consolidation	Drilling speed
	For use in all rock conditions, especially for harsh or abrasive conditions such as granite, basalt, and hard limestone	much	slow
	Drill straighter holes in less consolidated rock	middle	middle
	For soft rock, such as low-silica shale and limestone	less	fast

2. The external factors mainly lie in the rock, whether the selection and operation of the rock drilling equipment are correct, etc. For example, the service life of the rock drill bit in hard and abrasive rock drilling is generally not high; If the rock drill bits are used improperly in the construction, it will directly lead to the early failure of the rock drill bit.

Combining the above internal and external factors affecting the service life of the rock drill bit, we can see that the internal factors are more inclined to the quality of the rock drill bit itself. Based on this, it is necessary for the rock drill bit manufacturers to strictly control the production quality, and according to the rock properties faced by users to improve the shape design of the rock drill bit, optimize the structural parameters, and improve the effective utilization rate of alloy.

The external factors affecting the service life of the rock drill bit are more from the selection and operation of equipment. The rock drill bit service life can be improved by the following points.

1. According to the hardness and corrosiveness of the rock, according to the drilling methods such as open-air, underground, tunnel drilling, production drilling, anchor hole drilling, etc., according to the powder discharge medium such as compressed air, high-pressure water, and other media, according to the type of rock drill such as heavy duty, light, pneumatic, hydraulic and other factors to choose the drill bit.

2. To be stable when opening the hole, it is necessary to lower the working parameters of the rock drill, to prevent the single button from supercharging, causing broken and loss of buttons.

3. According to the rock drilling situation, the working parameters of the rock drill should be adjusted in time. The parameters of impact, propulsion, and rotation are adjusted based on the standard of no sticking, fast drilling speed, and no bending of the drill rod. Do not stop water or gas during the use of the rock drill bit, otherwise, it is easy to cause the rock drill bit heat to break buttons and loss, resulting in failure.

4. After working for a certain period of time, the carbide button and body case wear of the rock drill bit should be checked regularly. When the carbide button or the body case is found to have large wear, the relevant tools should be used in time for grinding, so as not to affect the rock drilling speed and prevent the rock drill bit from being stuck due to the reverse taper.

5. When the rock drill bit is drilling rock, it should be ensured that there is sufficient water pressure or wind pressure to prevent excessive wear and sticking of the rock drill bit due to poor powder discharge and to improve the drilling speed.

6. Scientific and correct use of the rock drill bit, timely grinding, and repeated use can hike the drilling efficiency and service life of the rock drill bit.

In addition, managers and workers should strengthen the scientific understanding of the use of rock drill bits, understand the inherent law of wear; establish a storage system for the use, replacement, and recycling of rock drill bits; and choose a reputable, capable manufacturer or distributor that can provide grinding services. All of these can effectively extend the service life of the rock drill bit. After all, for enterprises, extending the service life of rock drill bits is an effective measure to reduce costs. It can not only bring economic benefits to enterprises but also saves scarce metal resources.