The material of the drill bit determines the kind of material which can be drilled into. Also the longevity of a drill bit also depends on the material of the drill bit and here are the basic materials with which the construction of the drill bit is done.

Soft Low carbon Steel bits – These are mainly used in the woodworking and these generally require a lot of sharpening. Another variety in this category is high carbon steel bits. These bits are better than low carbon steel bits however these cannot withstand excessive heat.

High Speed steel bits or HSS bits – High speed steel is the steel which is a very good tool steel and easily withstand high heat. This type of drill bit is used to drill wood, metal and several other materials.

Carbide Bits – These in effect are not carbide bit but are carbide tipped bits where the material such as tungsten carbide are screwed or brazed on the tip of the bit. These have been known to very hard and can drill almost any material. The carbide tipped drill bits are very costly.

Titanium Coated Bits – Titanium nitride, titanium aluminum nitride or titanium carbon nitride are various forms of coating that can be done on the High speed steel bits. This helps extend the life of the high speed steel bits considerably.

Cobalt bits – These are a different type of HSS steel with more percentage of cobalt in them and these are used to drill the stainless steel. The reason being that these cobalt alloys can withstand higher temperatures

Apart from these there are other variety of coatings like black oxide or zirconium nitride and materials from which the drill bit is made. I will not be discussing the diamond drill bits which I have covered in the earlier posts.