Ultrastrong catalyst-free polycrystalline diamond

Qiang Li,Dong Li,Alawi G Alalsayednassir,Guodong Zhan,Timothy Eric Moellendick,Chinthaka P Gooneratne,Duanwei He

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-79167-4

Qiang Li, Dong Li + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79167-4

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
Citations: 38	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Sichuan University

Abstract

Diamond 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.

Highlights

Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material found on earth but single crystal diamond is brittle due to the nature of catastrophic cleavage fracture
To detect and compare the microstructure of the catalyst free polycrystalline diamond compact (CFPDC) and commercial Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) samples, the detailed microstructure of the synthesized and polished samples was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
scanning electron microscope imaging (SEM) and backscattered electron image (BSE) analyses showed that the diamond grain size is approximately 10 μm for both the starting diamond powder and the CFPDC material

Summary

Introduction

Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material found on earth but single crystal diamond is brittle due to the nature of catastrophic cleavage fracture. We developed a new strategy to manufacture new diamond cutting materials with ultra-high wear resistance, 300% more than the PDC cutters currently used in the industry, which will reduce technology investment by 50 years.

Results

Conclusion