Backfilled polycrystalline diamond cutter with high thermal conductivity
AssigneeVarel International Ind., L.P.
InventorsAlfazazi Dourfaye, William W. King, Michael R. Reese
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Abstract
A front face of a diamond table mounted to a substrate is processed, for example through an acid leach, to remove interstitial catalyst binder and form a thermal channel. A material is then introduced to the front face of the diamond table, the introduced material backfilling the front face of the diamond table to fill interstitial voids left by removal of the catalyst binder in the thermal channel to a desired depth. The material is selected to be less thermally expandable than the catalyst binder and/or more thermally conductive than the catalyst binder and/or having a lower heat capacity than the catalyst binder.
Claims27
A PDC cutter, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a diamond table mounted to the substrate, the diamond table comprising diamond crystals and interstitial catalyst binder, the diamond table further having a front face with a thermal channel where the interstitial catalyst binder has been removed and further formed to additionally include in the thermal channel a material, the material being introduced to fill at least some interstitial voids left by removal of the interstitial catalyst binder in the thermal channel to a desired depth, the material being less thermally expandable than the catalyst binder and more thermally conductive than the catalyst binder;
- and
- wherein the material is selected from a group consisting of:
- carbon, boron, molybdenum, cubic boron nitride, boron carbide, and titanium carbide (TiC0.6).
A method of backfilling a PDC cutter, comprising:
- removing from a front face of a diamond table mounted to a substrate, the diamond table comprising diamond crystals and interstitial catalyst binder, the interstitial catalyst binder to form a thermal channel;
- and
- introducing a material to the front face of the diamond table, the introduced material backfilling the front face of the diamond table to fill interstitial voids left by removal of the catalyst binder in the thermal channel to a desired depth, the material being less thermally expandable than the catalyst binder and more thermally conductive than the catalyst binder;
- and
- wherein introducing the material comprises introducing the material into the thermal channel by a process selected from a group consisting of ion implantation, spark plasma sintering, and cold pressing.
A method of backfilling a PDC cutter, comprising:
- removing from a front face of a diamond table mounted to a substrate, the diamond table comprising diamond crystals and interstitial catalyst binder, the interstitial catalyst binder to form a thermal channel;
- and
- introducing a material to the front face of the diamond table, the introduced material backfilling the front face of the diamond table to fill interstitial voids left by removal of the catalyst binder in the thermal channel to a desired depth, the material being less thermally expandable than the catalyst binder and more thermally conductive than the catalyst binder;
- and
- wherein introducing the material comprises introducing the material into the thermal channel by cryogenic methods or cold pressing or both.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.