A CUTTER ELEMENT FOR ROCK REMOVAL APPLICATIONS

摘要

A cutter element for rock removal comprises a free standing PCD body (801, 1801) comprising two or more physical volumes (1702, 1703) within the boundary of the PCD body, wherein adjacent physical volumes differ in one or more of diamond and metal network compositional ratio, metal elemental composition and diamond grain size distribution, a functional working volume (803) distal to the PCD body, the functional working volume forming in use a region which comes into contact with the rock. A functional support volume (804) extant in use and having a proximal free surface extends from the functional working volume. The PCD body has a shape having an aspect ratio such that the ratio of the length (ae) of the longest edge of the circumscribing rectangular parallelepiped of the overall PCD body to the largest width (ad) of the smallest rectangular face from which the functional working volume extends of the circumscribing rectangular parallelepiped, is greater than or equal to 1.0, and one or more of the physical volumes forms at least part of one or other or both of the functional working volume and the functional support volume.

主权项

1. A cutter element for rock removal comprising:
a free standing PCD body comprising an inter penetrating network of diamond and metal, the free standing PCD body further comprising: two or more physical volumes within the boundary of the PCD body, wherein adjacent physical volumes differ in one or more of diamond and metal network compositional ratio, metal elemental composition and diamond grain size distribution; a functional working volume distal to the PCD body, the functional working volume forming in use a region or volume which comes into contact with the rock and causing progressive removal of the rock by a combination of shearing, crushing and grinding, the functional working volume being progressively worn away during the lifetime of the PCD body; a functional support volume extant in use and having a proximal free surface, the functional support volume being a region or volume extending from the functional working volume and providing mechanical and thermal support to the functional working volume together with means of attachment of the rock removal PCD body to the housing body; the functional working volume extending from a distal free surface or boundary between adjacent free surfaces comprising any combination of edges, vertices, convex curved surfaces or protrusions, with an increase in cross-sectional area in the functional working volume extending into the functional support volume, along the line of extension from the distal free surface of the working volume, through the centroid of the overall body to a proximal free surface of the functional support volume; the proximal end forming the point of attachment and wherein: the functional support volume encompasses the centroid of the overall free standing PCD body;the overall PCD body having a shape having an aspect ratio such that the ratio of the length of the longest edge of the circumscribing rectangular parallelepiped of the overall PCD body to the largest width of the smallest rectangular face from which the functional working volume extends of the circumscribing rectangular parallelepiped, is greater than or equal to 1.0; and
one or more of the physical volumes forms at least part of one or other or both of the functional working volume and the functional support volume.