US-12617015-B2 - Producing hydro-efflux hammer using catalyst-free PDC cutters

Abstract

Cutters for a downhole drill bit can be formed by providing a catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamond (PCD) having a cross-sectional dimension of at least 8 millimeters; providing a substrate comprising tungsten carbide; and attaching the synthesized PCD to the substrate comprising tungsten carbide to form a PDC cutter.

Inventors

• Guodong Zhan
• Jianhui Xu
• Bodong Li
• Abdulwahab S. Aljohar

Assignees

• SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20230215

Claims (9)

1. 1 . A method of forming a bottom hole assembly, the method comprising: forming a plurality of catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds from a diamond powder without leaching; forming a plurality of cutters, each cutter comprising one of the plurality of catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamond attached to a carbide substrate; attaching the plurality of cutters to a body of a drill bit; incorporating the drill bit with the attached cutters into a hydro-efflux hammer system.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the plurality of the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds comprises applying a pressure of at least 14 GPa during processing of the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamond.
3. 3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds are processed to a temperature of at least 1900° C. during processing of the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamond.
4. 4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds have a diameter of at least 8 mm.
5. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds have a diamond table thickness of at least 3 mm.
6. 6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds have a planar end surface.
7. 7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds have a non-planar end surface.
8. 8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamonds have a conical end surface.
9. 9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a plurality of cutters comprises: providing a substrate comprising tungsten carbide; and attaching the catalyst-free synthesized polycrystalline diamond to the substrate comprising tungsten carbide to form a PDC cutter.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/336,637 filed on Jun. 2, 2021, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/033,669, filed on Jun. 2, 2020, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to production of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) compact (PDC) cutters and, particularly, PDC drill bits for the oil and gas industry. BACKGROUND Drilling hard, abrasive, and interbedded formations poses a difficult challenge for conventional PDC drill bits where the PDC cutter is formed using conventional high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) technology. Historically, a conventional PCD material, generally forming a cutting layer, also called diamond table, dulls quickly due to abrasive wear, impact damage, and thermal fatigue. Thus, hardness, fracture toughness, and thermal stability of PCD materials represent three limiting factors for an effective PDC drill bit. SUMMARY Some methods of forming a drill bit cutter include: pressurizing, to synthesize polycrystalline diamond (PCD) having a cross-sectional dimension of at least 8 millimeters (mm), a diamond powder to a pressure of at least 5 gigapascals (GPa); heating the diamond powder to at least 1000° C.; pressurizing the diamond powder to a pressure of at least 14 GPa; and heating the diamond powder at a heating rate of between 10° C. to 1000° C. per minute to a synthesis temperature of between 1000° C. and 3000° C.; and cooling the PCD at a cooling rate of between 10° C. to 1000° C. per min to a temperature of between room temperature to 2000° C. Some computer implemented methods performed by one or more processors for forming a drill bit cutter include the following operations: pressurizing, to synthesize a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) having a cross-sectional dimension of at least 8 millimeters (mm), a diamond powder to a pressure of at least 5 GPa; heating the diamond powder to at least 1000° C.; pressurizing the diamond powder to a pressure of at least 14 GPa for between 1 and 60 minutes; and heating the diamond powder at a heating rate of 200° C. per minute to a temperature of 1000° C. to 2000° C.; and cooling the PCD at a cooling rate of 50° C. per min. Some apparatuses for forming a drill bit cutter include: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing programming instructions for execution by the one or more processors, the programming instructions instructing the one or more processors to: pressurizing, to synthesize a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) having a cross-sectional dimension of at least 8 millimeters (mm), a diamond powder to a pressure of at least 5 gigapascals (GPa); heating the diamond powder to at least 1000° C.; pressurizing the diamond powder to a pressure of at least 14 GPa; heating the diamond powder at a heating rate of 200° C. per minute to a temperature of 1000° C. to 2000° C.; cooling the PCD at a cooling rate of 50° C. per min; and coupling the cooled PCD to a substrate comprising tungsten carbide to form a PDC cutter. Implementations of these methods and apparatuses can include one or more of the following features. In some implementations, performing an ultra-high pressure and high temperature operation on diamond powder to synthesize polycrystalline diamond (PCD) having a minimum dimension of at least 8 mm further comprises coupling the cooled PCD to a substrate comprising tungsten carbide to form a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter. In some implementations, the diamond powder comprises particles having a size within a range of 8 micrometers (μm) to 50 μm. In some implementations, the diamond powder comprises particles having a size within a range of 8 μm to 12 μm. In some implementations, the diamond powder comprises particles having a size within a range of 0.1 μm to 100 μm. In some implementations, the PCD has a dimension within a range of 5 mm to 50 mm. In some implementations, the PCD has a circular cross-sectional shape and wherein the PCD has a diameter of the cross-sectional shape that is within a range of 5 mm to 50 mm. In some implementations, coupling the cooled PCD to a substrate comprising tungsten carbide to form a PDC cutter comprises coupling the cooled PCD to the substrate by vacuum diffusion bonding, hot pressing, spark plasma sintering, microwave joining, or high-pressure, high temperature (HPHT) bonding. In some implementations, cooling the PCD at a cooling rate of 50° C. per min comprises cooling the PCD to between 1500° C. to 2000° C. Some implementations also include maintaining the PCD at between 1500° C. to 2000° C. for 5 to 60 minutes. In some implementations, performing an ultra-high pressure and high temperature operation on diamond powder to synthesize polycrystalline diamond (PCD) having a minimum dimension o