The results Laserbond has been able to achieve with its re-engineered down-the-hole hammers so far, have been pretty impressive.

A down-the-hole hammer – a staple of the hard rock drilling industry – is basically a mini jack hammer that fits onto the bottom of the drill string. The fast hammer action breaks up the rock and the air exhaust from the DTH hammer blows the resulting dust and flakes clear.

However, they also experience some of the fastest wear rates – particularly in abrasive conditions.

This is where Laserbond thought it could add something. After all, its reason for being is to protect objects from wear.

In fact, DTH hammers are often considered consumable items. Laserbond wanted to make its DTH hammers last.

It developed a surface finish on the hammer to cope with the physical demands of drilling, which involved modifications to the laser cladding process. This modification has since been patented by Laserbond.

To complement the hammer, the company also developed a laser-clad chuck that features a tapered design to manage the abrasive particle flow from the drill bit.

This was all well and good in theory, but would these modified components stand up to competition from DTH hammers from international suppliers with decades of experience?

To find out Laserbond put its tools to the test under a trial controlled by Brisbane-based mining consultancy Xtega.

The trial – in adjacent holes under identical conditions – compared four well-known brands of DTH hammers with the Laserbond unit.

Four Atlas Copco D65 rigs – each running identical settings – were brought to site and worked the same bench, literally within metres of each other.

To maintain objectiveness crews were rotated among the four rigs to experience and report on the operational characteristics and performance of the hammers in the trial.

According to the Xtega report, a suit of industry-standard hammers drilled an average of 3514m before failure.

The hammers incorporating the Laserbond technology drilled 10,726m, a more than three-times longer life.

Xtega concluded there was an “irrefutable decrease in the rate of abrasive wear, which results in an increase in the life of the Laserbond hammer”

The operational life extension was just one of the benefits of the Laserbond DTH hammers.

Others include improved mechanical availability, improved efficiency, higher impact and penetration rates, improved site and operator safety and less downtime for change outs.

On the likely impact of operating costs, Xtega also reported “a reduction in the cost of the drilling function in the order of 7.5%.

The report also said surface life could be extended further if internal and structural longevity of the hammers could be improved too.

This has led Laserbond to look within the hammer for a new internal design.

After all, moving parts mean wear, which reduces performance and accelerates fatigue. The more moving parts, the greater the potential for failure.

On average high performance down-the-hole hammers have about 20 internal components. The Laserbond DTH hammers have 13, a 35% reduction in the number of internal components.

Its internal assembly has been able to, wherever possible, solve the steel-on-steel dilemma faced by many equipment makers.

Application of advanced surface engineering to critical internal components has significantly improved hammer availability rates and performance while cutting internal wear and component failure.

Laserbond research and development executive director Greg Hooper will be presenting the company’s DTH story at Drill & Blast 2015.

The conference, to be held at Pullman Brisbane King George Square, runs from April 28 to 30.