Infiltration methods for forming drill bits
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorsTimothy P. Uno, Marc W. Bird, Curtis A. Proske, Lester Dupre
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Abstract
An infiltration method of forming an article including providing a working mold including a solid binder member extending through an interior of the working mold, wherein the solid binder member is made of a binder material, and providing a layer of powder matrix material within a molding void of the working mold. The method further includes heating the working mold to form a molten binder pathway from the solid binder member to infiltrate the layer of powder matrix material.
Claims20
An infiltration method of forming an article comprising:
- providing a working mold including a solid binder member extending through an interior of the working mold wall, wherein the solid binder member comprises a binder material;
- providing a layer of powder matrix material within a molding void of the working mold;
- and
- heating the working mold to form a molten binder pathway from the solid binder member to infiltrate the layer of powder matrix material.
An infiltration method of forming an article comprising:
- providing a working mold comprising a wall defining a molding void for formation of an article therein, wherein the molding void comprises a molding void height (hmv) between a bottom surface and a top surface, the working mold further comprising a cavity within an interior portion of the wall in fluid communication with a bottom half of the working void;
- positioning a solid binder member within the cavity;
- providing a layer of powder matrix material within the molding void;
- and
- heating the working mold to melt the solid binder member and infiltrating a bottom region of the layer of powder matrix material with molten binder material flowing from the cavity into the molding void.
An infiltration method of forming an article comprising:
- providing a layer of powder matrix material within a molding void of a working mold, wherein the molding void is defined by a working mold wall;
- and
- heating the working mold and forming a molten binder pathway from a solid binder member extending through an interior of the working mold wall of the working mold, the molten binder pathway flowing into the molding void to infiltrate the powder matrix material, wherein the molten binder pathway within the working mold wall has an average diameter significantly greater than an average interparticle porosity of the powder matrix material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.