Abstract: A hard alloy material comprising tungsten carbide in an amount of 50 to 80 weight percent of the material, titanium carbide in an amount of at least about 10 weight percent, and a binder material of cobalt and nickel. Though tungsten carbide based, the thermal conductivity of the material of the invention is between 10 and 20 Watt/m° K. In other aspects of the invention, molybdenum and chromium are included to further lower the thermal conductivity of the material. In yet another aspect of the invention, one or more nitrides or carbonitrides of titanium and/or zirconium are included in the material.