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.
Claims21
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;
- 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;
- 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.
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;
- 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;
- 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.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.