Steel body with hard face structure

A body comprises a steel substrate and a hard face structure fused to the steel substrate, in which the hard face structure comprises at least 1 weight percent Si, at least 5 weight percent Cr and at least 40 weight percent W and substantially the balance of the hard face structure consisting essentially of an iron group metal M and C, with M being selected from Fe, Co and Ni or an alloy thereof. The hard face structure includes a plurality of elongate or platelike micro-structures 34 having a mean length of at least 1 micron, a plurality of nano-particles 36 having a mean size of less than 200 nanometres, and a binder material 32. The micro-structures 34 comprise more than 1 weight percent Cr and a phase having the formula MXWYCZ, where x is in the range from 1 to 7, y is in the range from 1 to 10 and z is in the range from 1 to 4, the nano-particles 36 comprise more than 20 weight percent W, the metal M, and C, and the binder material 32 comprises more than 3 weight percent W, more than 2 weight percent Cr, more than 0.5 weight percent Si, the metal M and C. The nano-particles 36 may comprise a compound including Si, W and Fe, or may comprise tungsten silicide (Si2W). The micro-structures 34 may be dendritic in form. Preferably, the steel substrate and hard face structure are fused together via an intermediate layer with a thickness between 1 and 100 microns. The body may be used in a tool used for pavement or rock degradation to prevent excessive wear on the tool.