Development of Advanced Drill Components for BHA Using Microwave Technology Incorporating Carbide, Diamond Composites and Functionally Graded Materials

摘要

The microwave processing of materials is a new emerging technology with many attractive advantages over the conventional methods. The advantages of microwave technology for various ceramic systems has already been demonstrated and proven. The recent developments at Penn State have succeeded in applying the microwave technology for the commercialization of WC/Co and diamond based cutting and drilling tools, effectively sintering of metallic materials, and fabrication of transparent ceramics for advanced applications. In recent years, the Microwave Processing and Engineering Center at Penn State University in collaboration with our industrial partner, Dennis Tool Co. has succeeded in commercializing the developed microwave technology partially funded by DOE for WC/Co and diamond based cutting and drilling tools for gas and oil exploration operations. In this program we have further developed this technology to make diamond-carbide composites and metal-carbide-diamond functionally graded materials. Several actual product of diamond-carbide composites have been processed in microwave with better performance than the conventional product. The functionally graded composites with diamond as one of the components has been for the first time successfully developed. These are the highlights of the project.