Methods of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond body with a sintering aid/infiltrant at least saturated with non-diamond carbon and resultant products such as compacts
AssigneeUS Synthetic Corporation
InventorsDavid P. Miess, Michael A. Vail, C. Eugene McMurray
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention relate to methods of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond compacts and applications for such polycrystalline diamond compacts. In an embodiment, a method of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond compact includes at least saturating a sintering aid material with non-diamond carbon to form a carbon-saturated sintering aid material and sintering a plurality of diamond particles in the presence of the carbon-saturated sintering aid particles to form a polycrystalline diamond table.
Claims34
A method of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond compact, comprising:
- at least saturating a sintering aid material with non-diamond carbon to form a carbon-saturated sintering aid material;
- and
- sintering a plurality of diamond particles in the presence of the carbon-saturated sintering aid material to form a polycrystalline diamond table, wherein the carbon-saturated sintering aid material catalyzes formation of diamond-to-diamond bonding between the plurality of diamond particles used to form the polycrystalline diamond table.
A method of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond body, comprising:
- mechanically milling non-diamond carbon and a sintering aid particles to form carbon-saturated sintering aid particles;
- and
- mixing the carbon-saturated sintering aid particles and a plurality of diamond particles to form a mixture;
- and
- subjecting the mixture to a high-pressure/high-temperature process effective to sinter the plurality of diamond particles and form the polycrystalline diamond body, wherein the carbon-saturated sintering aid material catalyzes formation of diamond-to-diamond bonding between the plurality of diamond particles used to form the polycrystalline diamond table.
A method of fabricating a polycrystalline diamond compact, comprising:
- at least saturating a plurality of sintering aid particles with non-diamond carbon to form carbon-saturated sintering aid particles;
- sintering a plurality of diamond particles in the presence of the carbon-saturated sintering aid particles to form a polycrystalline diamond table, wherein the carbon-saturated sintering aid material catalyzes formation of diamond-to-diamond bonding between the plurality of diamond particles used to form the polycrystalline diamond table;
- at least partially leaching a sintering aid material from the polycrystalline diamond table to form an at least partially leached polycrystalline diamond table;
- forming an assembly including the at least partially leached polycrystalline diamond table positioned at least proximate to a substrate;
- and
- subjecting the assembly to a high-pressure/high-temperature process effective to infiltrate the at least partially leached polycrystalline diamond table with an infiltrant and bond the infiltrated polycrystalline diamond table to the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.