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US 10,920,303 B2Granted
Induced material segregation methods of manufacturing a polycrystalline diamond tool
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsZachary Ryan Murphree, Andy Cheng Chang, Gagan Saini
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Abstract
Induced material segregation methods of manufacturing a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter result in formation of a polycrystalline diamond/tungsten carbide (WC) composite material having a smooth compositional gradient from maximum WC concentration at one face to maximum diamond concentration at another face. Because the compositional gradient is smooth, very little or no mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion occurs, which improves a service lifetime of the PDC cutter.
Claims20
A method of manufacturing a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter, the method comprising:
- introducing a polycrystalline diamond particulate, a substrate particulate, and a binder in a reactor, wherein the binder is a solid phase material at room temperature;
- performing induced segregation of the polycrystalline diamond particulate and the substrate particulate in the reactor to form a segregated mixture having a continuous compositional gradient of the polycrystalline diamond particulate and the substrate particulate along an axis of the segregated mixture, wherein the continuous compositional gradient begins with a substrate-rich phase at one end of the axis and ends with a polycrystalline diamond-rich phase at the other end of the axis;
- consolidating the segregated mixture to form a green-state material, including the binder immobilizing the polycrystalline diamond particulate and the substrate particulate in the green-state material;
- placing the green-state material adjacent to a substrate at a first face of the green-state material, wherein the first face has a maximum concentration of substrate in the continuous compositional gradient;
- placing the green-state material adjacent to thermally stable polycrystalline diamond at a second face of the green-state material opposite the first face, wherein the second face has a maximum concentration of polycrystalline diamond in the continuous compositional gradient;
- and
- performing a high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) sintering process on the green-state material to form the PDC cutter, including applying sintering process conditions to eliminate the binder during the HTHP sintering process.
4 more elements
A method of manufacturing a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter, the method comprising:
- introducing a polycrystalline diamond particulate and a substrate particulate in a reactor;
- performing induced segregation of the polycrystalline diamond particulate and the substrate particulate in the reactor to form a segregated mixture having a continuous compositional gradient of the polycrystalline diamond particulate and the substrate particulate along an axis of the segregated mixture, wherein the continuous compositional gradient begins with a substrate-rich phase at one end of the axis and ends with a polycrystalline diamond-rich phase at the other end of the axis;
- after performing the induced segregation, introducing a binder to the reactor, wherein the binder is a fluid phase material in the reactor;
- consolidating the segregated mixture to form a green-state material, including the binder immobilizing the polycrystalline diamond particulate and the substrate particulate in the green-state material;
- placing the green-state material adjacent to a substrate at a first face of the green-state material, wherein the first face has a maximum concentration of substrate in the continuous compositional gradient;
- placing the green-state material adjacent to thermally stable polycrystalline diamond at a second face of the green-state material opposite the first face, wherein the second face has a maximum concentration of polycrystalline diamond in the continuous compositional gradient;
- and
- performing a high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) sintering process on the green state material to form the polycrystalline diamond tool element, including applying sintering process conditions to eliminate the binder during the HTHP sintering process.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.