POLYCRYSTALLINE DIAMOND BODIES INCORPORATING FRACTIONATED DISTRIBUTION OF DIAMOND PARTICLES OF DIFFERENT MORPHOLOGIES

• Main Authors: JOHNSON, Alexanne, BIRD, Marc, SCOTT, Danny, GLEDHILL, Andrew
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 07.02.2018
• Subjects: ALLOYS; ARTIFICIAL STONE; CEMENTS; CERAMICS; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDINGMATERIALS; CONCRETE; EARTH DRILLING; EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS; LIME, MAGNESIA; METALLURGY; MINING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR ASLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS; REFRACTORIES; SLAG; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE

Diamond bodies and methods of manufacture are disclosed. Diamond bodies are ormed from at least a bimodal, alternatively a tri-modal or higher modal, feedstock having at east one fraction of modified diamond particles with a fine particle size (0.5-3.0 µm) and at east one fraction of diamond particles with coarse particle size (15.0 to 30 µm). During high pressure - high temperature processing, fine particle sized, modified diamond particles in the irst fraction preferentially fracture to smaller sizes while preserving the morphology of coarse particle sized diamond particles in the second fraction. Diamond bodies incorporating he two fractions have a microstructure including second fraction diamond particles dispersed n a continuous matrix of first fraction modified diamond particles and exhibit improved wear characteristics, particularly for wear associated with drilling of geological formations.