Methods of forming polycrystalline compacts
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorAnthony A. DiGiovanni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods of forming a polycrystalline compact for use in an earth-boring tool include sintering a plurality of hard particles with catalyst material to form a polycrystalline material that includes a plurality of inter-bonded particles of hard material integrally formed with the catalyst material and introducing at least a portion of the polycrystalline material to a reactive material to remove at least a portion of the catalyst material contained within the polycrystalline material. The reactive material may include at least one of a molten glass, an ionic compound, a leaching liquor, and a chemical plasma. The reactive material may be introduced to the polycrystalline material at a temperature of greater than or equal to a melting point thereof.
Claims17
A method of forming a polycrystalline compact cutting element, the method comprising:
- forming a cutting element comprising a polycrystalline material and a catalyst material disposed in interstitial spaces between inter-bonded crystals of the polycrystalline material;
- and
- removing at least a portion of the catalyst material from the interstitial spaces between inter-bonded crystals of the polycrystalline material, wherein removing at least a portion of the catalyst material from the interstitial spaces comprises:
- exposing at least a portion of the polycrystalline material to a solution comprising acetic acid;
- and
- subsequently adding at least one of an oxalic acid and an oxalic acid ester to the solution to which the at least a portion of the polycrystalline material is exposed.
A method of forming a polycrystalline compact cutting element, comprising:
- at least partially melting a reactive material by heating the reactive material to a temperature of at least about two hundred degrees Celsius (200° C.);
- introducing a melted portion of the reactive material to a polycrystalline compact comprising a catalyst material dispersed throughout a plurality of interstitial spaces between inter-bonded grains of a polycrystalline material;
- and
- removing at least a portion of the catalyst material from at least a portion of the plurality of interstitial spaces with the reactive material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.