New Catalyst-Free Polycrystalline Diamond with Industry-Record Wear Resistance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guodong David Zhan ◽  
Bodong Li ◽  
Timothy Eric Moellendick ◽  
Duanwei He ◽  
Jianhui Xu
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Wear Resistance ◽  
Frictional Heat ◽  
Drill Bit ◽  
Ultra High Pressure ◽  
Catalyst Free ◽  
Drill Bits ◽  
Single Crystal Diamond ◽  
New Material ◽  
Metallic Catalyst

Abstract PDC drill bits are the primary drilling tools for oil and gas in most of formations. In a PDC drill bit, PDC cutters are key cutting components to engage with these formations. However, there is often a big challenge for today's PDC drill bits when drilling very hard and abrasive formation. The main weakness in the PDC cutter is due to the unavoidable use of metallic catalyst which is used to bond the diamond grains in the PDC cutters. The thermal expansion of the metallic catalysts resulting from high frictional heat at the cutter/rock interface during drilling operation is higher than that of diamond grains, causing the thermal stress between the metallic catalyst and diamond grain which can break the PDC cutter. Therefore, development of catalyst-free PDC cutters would be a game-changing technology for drill bit by delivering significant increase in performance, durability, and drilling economics. In this study, an innovative ultra-high pressure and ultra-high temperature technology was developed with ultra-high pressures up to 35 GPa, much higher than current PDC cutter technology. We report a new type of catalyst-free PDC cutting material, synthesized under one of conditions using ultra-high pressure of 16 GPa. The new material breaks all single-crystal-diamond indenters in Vickers hardness testing which sets a new world record as the hardest diamond material as of today. Also, the material shows the highest thermal stability in the family of diamonds in air at 1,200°C, which is about 600 °C higher than current PDC cutters. As a consequence of these superior properties, this new material exhibited industry-recorded wear resistance, which is four times of that of current PDC cutters. All of these achievements demonstrated a breakthrough in PDC cutter technology development and presented a feasibility for the goal of "One-Run-To-TD" game-changing drilling technology.

scholarly journals Ultrastrong catalyst-free polycrystalline diamond

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Li ◽  
Guodong Zhan ◽  
Dong Li ◽  
Duanwei He ◽  
Timothy Eric Moellendick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Wear Resistance ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Single Crystal ◽  
Polycrystalline Diamond ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Catalyst Free ◽  
Single Crystal Diamond ◽  
New Material ◽  
Polycrystalline Diamond Compact

AbstractDiamond is the hardest naturally occurring material found on earth but single crystal diamond is brittle due to the nature of catastrophic cleavage fracture. Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) materials are made by high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) technology. PDC materials have been widely used in several industries. Wear resistance is a key material property that has long been pursued for its valuable industrial applications. However, the inevitable use of catalysts introduced by the conventional manufacturing process significantly reduces their end-use performance and limits many of their potential applications. In this work, an ultra-strong catalyst-free polycrystalline diamond compact material has been successfully synthesized through innovative ultra-high pressure and ultra-high temperature (UHPHT) technology. These results set up new industry records for wear resistance and thermal stability for PDC cutters utilized for drilling in the oil and gas industry. The new material also broke all single-crystal diamond indenters, suggesting that the new material is too hard to be measured by the current standard single-crystal diamond indentation method. This represents a major breakthrough in hard materials that can expand many potential scientific research and industrial applications.

scholarly journals Microstructure and Properties of AA6061/SiCp Composites Sintered under Ultra High-Pressure

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7363
Author(s):  
Lei Xu ◽  
Erkuo Yang ◽  
Yasong Wang ◽  
Changyun Li ◽  
Zhiru Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
High Pressure ◽  
Wear Resistance ◽  
Wear Rate ◽  
Abrasive Wear ◽  
Wear Mechanism ◽  
Adhesive Wear ◽  
Wear Property ◽  
Ultra High Pressure ◽  
High Pressure Sintering

Ultra high-pressure sintering (UHPS) was used to prepare AA6061/SiCp composites with different contents and the effect of sintering temperatures on microstructure and mechanical properties was investigated in this study. The results showed that a uniform distribution of nano-SiC particles (N-SiCp) is obtained by the UHPS method. With the increase in N-SiCp contents, the higher hardness and better wear resistance could be inspected. The interfacial reactions and Al4C3 phase appeared above 550 °C. The relative density of composites first increased and then decreased; with the temperature raising it reached 99.58% at 600 °C. The hardness and wear property showed the same trend with the hardness reaching 52 HRA and wear rate being 1.0 × 10−6 g/m at 600 °C. Besides, the wear mechanism of the composites is mainly composed of abrasive wear and adhesive wear.

Ultra-Strong and Catalyst-Free Polycrystalline Diamond Cutting Materials for One-Run-To-TD Game-Changing Drilling Technology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guodong David Zhan ◽  
Chinthaka Gooneratne ◽  
Timothy Eric Moellendick ◽  
Duanwei He ◽  
Jianhui Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
Wear Resistance ◽  
Single Crystal ◽  
High Pressures ◽  
Impact Resistance ◽  
Polycrystalline Diamond ◽  
Processing Parameters ◽  
Catalyst Free ◽  
Single Crystal Diamond ◽  
Traditional Manufacturing

Abstract Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits have been increasing their application drilling many formations in the past 20+ years. However, their performance in drilling very hard, abrasive and interbedded formations still needs improvement. The main weak point comes from their primary cutting elements, PDC cutters, which still need improvements of wear resistance, impact resistance, and thermal stability. During the traditional manufacturing of the PDC cutters, cobalt catalyst has to be used to lower the pressure and temperature. In this study, we developed an ultra high pressure and high temperature (UHPHT) technology to make the PDC cutters without metallic catalyst into reality. Through this development, we can generate pressures of 14 GPa-35 GPa, which is three to seven times of that in the traditional PDC cutter manufacturing technology. In addition, the extreme high temperatures ranging from 1,900 °C to 2,300 °C are achieved, which is 500-900 °C higher than that in traditional process. Using this UHPHT technology, we successfully processed ultra-strong and catalyst-free PDC materials with two high pressures at 14 GPa and 16 GPa, respectively, to study the different responses of the material properties from different processing parameters. The new process applied industry available micro-sized synthetic diamond powders as starting material to eliminate the large volume shrinkage in phase transformation from graphite to diamond which is typically experienced in traditional manufacturing process. The hardness of the 14-GPa CFPCD materials reaches the top limit of the single crystal diamond, more than double that of the traditional PDC cutters. The material also possesses the near-metallic fracture toughness – more than two times of the traditional PDC cutters. Furthermore, the 16-GPa CFPCD material breaks all four single crystal diamond indenters in Vickers hardness tester, an indication of the world's hardest material in the family of diamonds. As a result, the material exhibits industry-recorded wear resistance and thermal stability. The combination of these breakthrough properties of the new CFPCD materials activates the goal in the effort of "One-Run-To-TD" in drilling operation, after the implementation of CFPCD materials as PDC cutters for PDC drill bits.

scholarly journals Trans-lithospheric diapirism explains the presence of ultra-high pressure rocks in the European Variscides

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Maierová ◽  
Karel Schulmann ◽  
Pavla Štípská ◽  
Taras Gerya ◽  
Ondrej Lexa
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Classical Concept ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Ultra High Pressure ◽  
Common Process ◽  
Mountain Belts ◽  
Collisional Orogens ◽  
Rock Association ◽  
European Variscides

AbstractThe classical concept of collisional orogens suggests that mountain belts form as a crustal wedge between the downgoing and overriding plates. However, this orogenic style is not compatible with the presence of (ultra-)high pressure crustal and mantle rocks far from the plate interface in the Bohemian Massif of Central Europe. Here we use a comparison between geological observations and thermo-mechanical numerical models to explain their formation. We suggest that continental crust was first deeply subducted, then flowed laterally underneath the lithosphere and eventually rose in the form of large partially molten trans-lithospheric diapirs. We further show that trans-lithospheric diapirism produces a specific rock association of (ultra-)high pressure crustal and mantle rocks and ultra-potassic magmas that alternates with the less metamorphosed rocks of the upper plate. Similar rock associations have been described in other convergent zones, both modern and ancient. We speculate that trans-lithospheric diapirism could be a common process.

scholarly journals Epitaxial lateral growth of single-crystal diamond under high pressure by a plate-to-plate MPCVD

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-149
Author(s):  
Wei Cao ◽  
Deng Gao ◽  
Hongyang Zhao ◽  
Zhibin Ma
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Single Crystal ◽  
Lateral Growth ◽  
Single Crystal Diamond
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