Ultrastrong catalyst-free polycrystalline diamond

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.

Nanoengineered Polycrystalline Diamond Composites with Advanced Wear Resistance and Thermal Stability

“…A strong compact was also obtained by sintering diamond micropowders 8–12 μm in size without a binder phase at 16 GPa and 2300 °C. When turning granite, the wear of such material was 3 times lower than that of a commercial PDC . However, such high thermobaric parameters cannot be used in the industry.…”

“…When turning granite, the wear of such material was 3 times lower than that of a commercial PDC. 20 However, such high thermobaric parameters cannot be used in the industry.…”

A Review of Binderless Polycrystalline Diamonds: Focus on the High-Pressure–High-Temperature Sintering Process

“…The two other studies span the P–T range and focus on the P–T path ( Table 2 ); the final size of the bodies; and the mechanical, abrasive and cutting properties of these diamond compacts [ 103 , 136 ]. For instance, samples up to ~500 mm 3 (10 mm diameter and 6 mm high) were synthesized using similar set-up and at pressure and temperature up to 16 GPa and 2300 °C [ 136 ]. The final product was optically dark, with 10 μm grain size and with the presence of micro cracks.…”

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High Pressure (HP) in Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) Processes: Application to the Polycrystalline Diamond

“…However, sintered objects were never fully dense, and some back transformation occurred due to the limited P-T conditions reached in their respective apparatus (piston-cylinder and belt-type press). This method was further developed by the University of Sichuan, China [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. An optimized cubic hinge-type apparatus was used to sinter objects up to 0.5 cm 3 at pressure up to 16 GPa and temperature to 2500 °C [ 62 ].…”