Effect of diamond powder grain size distribution on mechanical and application properties of PDC
Description
Authors: Xiaohua Ke, Alojz Ivankovic, Xiongwen Yang, Vishnu Prasad, Neal Murphy, Xiaoqing Zhu
Abstract: Three diamond powders (referred to as P1, P2 and P3) with size parameters for narrowness analysis (SPAN) of 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 in the range of 10-20 μm with (opens in a new window)normal distribution characteristics were selected to produce (opens in a new window)PDC cutters (referred to as S1, S2 and S3) and further processed into PDC bits (referred to as Bit1, Bit2 and Bit3). The grain size distribution of the diamond powders, the microscopic characteristics and mechanical properties of the PDC cutters, and the application performance of the PDC bits were also evaluated. The tests showed that as the SPAN of the diamond powder decreases, the surface area average diameter (ds) decreases while the volume average diameter (dv) increases. The (opens in a new window)microstructural characteristics of PDC correlate more closely with ds. The wear resistance and thermal stability of PDC are correlated with ds, while the impact resistance of PDC is more influenced by dv. In the (opens in a new window)field test, Bit1 showed significant advantages compared to Bit2 and Bit3, the footage increased by 137% and 184%, the (opens in a new window)rate of penetration (ROP) increased by and 35% and 50% respectively.
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