Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for applying a wear-resistant material to a rock bit, comprising: depositing a coating on a selected area of the rock bit; and applying a heated wear-resistant material to the rock bit, wherein the coating is selected to have material properties to prevent significant bonding between the heated wear-resistant material and the coated area of the rock bit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected areas of the rock bit comprises inserts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the coating comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a carbide, a boride, and a nitride of a metal selected from group IVA, VA, VIA transition metal.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing the heated wear-resistant material from the selected area of the rock bit.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein applying comprises using a laser assisted cladding apparatus.

6. An insert having a coating on a portion thereof for use in a rock bit, comprising: a substrate; and a coating deposited on at least one portion of said substrate in an amount sufficient to reduce bonding of a wear-resistant material to said substrate.

7. The insert of claim 7, wherein the coating comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a carbide, a boride, and a nitride of a metal selected from group IVA, VA, VIA transition metal.

8. A method of fabricating a drill bit, comprising: forming a body of the drill bit; forming a plurality of holes in portions of the body to receive coated inserts; inserting at least one coated insert into at least one of said plurality of holes; cladding at least one selected area of said body with a wear-resistant material.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the laser-assisted cladding apparatus comprises a feed line and a laser.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the feed line comprises the wear-resistant material.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising disposing the feed line in parallel with the laser.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising cooling the drill bit.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising removing the wear-resistant material from the plurality of coated inserts.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the cladding comprises using a laser-assisted cladding apparatus.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the wear resistant material is deposited in a single step.

16. A system for performing a cladding process, comprising: a processor; a memory operatively coupled to a laser-assisted cladding apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises a feed line, wherein the feed line comprises a wear-resistant material, and a laser.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the memory stores a program readable by the processor.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the program contains a geometric information of a rock drill bit.

19. A rock bit made using the method of claim 1.

20. A rock bit comprising an insert in accordance with claim 6.

21. A method for selectively applying cladding to a rock bit, comprising: depositing, in a one step process, wear resistant material on a selected region of a cone, without contacting inserts on that cone.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one step process comprises using a laser assisted cladding apparatus.