US005653300A United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,653,300 Lund et al. 45) Date of Patent: *Aug. 5, 1997 54 MODIFIED SUPERHARD CUTTING 4,852,671 8/1989 Southland ... ... 175,430 ELEMENTS HAVING REDUCED SURFACE 4,858,707 8/1989 Jones et al. .. ... 175/431 ROUGHNESS METHOD OF MODIFYING, 4,872,520 10/1989 Nelson ..... ... 175/430 WT 4,883,132 11/1989 Tibbitts .................................... 175/65 PRISTSES MEEDs OF 4,884,476 12/1989 Okuzumi et al. 76/101.1 DRILLING THEREWrf 4,913,244 4/1990 Trujillo ............ ... 175/65 4,913.247 4/1990 Jones ........ ... 175/434 d 4,954,139 9/1990 Cerutti ..... ... 51/293 (75) Inventors: Jeffrey B. Lund; Redd H. Smith, both 4,976,324 12/1990 Tibbitts ... ... 175/428 of Salt Lake City, Utah 4,984,642 1/1991 Renard et al. ... 175/430 4,988,421 1/1991 Drawl et al. ..... ... 204/421 73 Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated, Houston, 4,992,082 2/1991 Drawl et al. ... 51/295 Tex. 4997,049 3/1991 Tank et al. ... ... 175/430 5,011,509 4/1991 Frushour ................................... 51/307 (*) Notice: The term of this patent shall not extend beyond the expiration date of Pat. No. (List continued on next page.) 5.447.208. FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 0 149530 7/1985 European Pat. Off.. 21 Appl. No.: 480,623 0 298 729 A1 7/1988 European Pat. Off. ............... 407/119 22 Filed: Jun. 7, 1995 0.322 214 B1 12/1988 European Pat. Off.. • f 9 0 480 394 4/1992 European Pat. Off.. 0541 071 5/1993 European Pat. Off.. Related U.S. Application Data 4141900 6/1993 Germany. 63 Continuation of Ser. No. 156,086, Nov. 22, 1993, Pat. No. OTHER PUBLICATIONS 5,447208. 6 al European Search Report dated Apr. 29, 1996 re: Application 51) Int. Cl. ................................ F21B 1046; B23P9/00 N.EP 94.87 0183 (4 pages). (52) U.S. Cl. ............. 175/428; 175/434; 407/119 Song, J.F., et al, "Surface Texture”. National Institute of 58) Field of Search .................................... 175/428,432, Standards and Technology (6 pages), undated. 175/433,434; 407/119 (List continued on next page.) 56) References Cited Primary Examiner-David J. Bagnell U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Trask, Britt & Rossa 3,670,380 6/1972 Moore et al. ............................. 407/40 (57 ABSTRACT 4,109,737 8/1978 Bovenkerk ... 4211,508 7/1980 Dill et al........ E. A superhard cutting element having a polished, low friction 4,478,297 10/1984 Radtke ...... O 1757.432 substantially planar cutting face with a surface finish rough 4,525,179 6/1985 Gigl ...... 51/309 ness of 10pi in. or less and preferably 0.51 in. or less. A 4,533,004 8/1985 Ecer .................. 175/430 chamfered cutting edge and side surface of the superhard 4,539,018 9/1985 Whanger et al. do odies 51/295 material table of the same surface finish roughness are also 4,566,426 1/1986 Schleich et al. ... ... 125/11.01 disclosed. The surface roughness of the aforementioned 4,606,418 8/1986 Thompson ... Tl29 superhard material table portions may be reduced by 4,629,373 12/1986 Hall ............... ... 407/118 mechanically smoothing and polishing according to one of 4,662,348 5/1987 Hall et al. 384/907.1 4,693,035 9/1987 Doyle ..................................... several variations of the method of the invention. 4,784,023 11/1988 Dennis ................................... 76/108.2 4,805,586 2/1989 Borse ................................... 125/11.01 29 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets 5,653,300 Page 2 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Hibbs, L.E., et al., "Wear Mechanisms for Polycrystalline 5,011,514 4/1991 Cho et al. ...... 51/295 Diamond Compacts as Utilized for Drilling in Geothermal 5,025,874 6/1991 Barr et al... ... 75/430 Environments", General Electric Company, Corporate 5,035,771 7/1991 Borse ..................................... 156/646 Research and Development, Contract Period Nov. 1979 to 5,037,451 8/1991 Burnand et al. .......................... 51/293 Sep. 1982, pp. 89-99. 5,054,246 10/1991 Phaal et al. ... ... 51/204 5,115,873 5/1992 Pastusek ..... ... 175/65 Kuru, E., et al., "An Experimental Study of Sliding Friction 5,120,327 6/1992 Denniss ...... 51/293 Between PDC Drill Cutters and Rocks”, Int. J. Rock Mech. 5,135,061 8/1992 Newton, Jr. .... ... 175/428 Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., vol. 32, No., 3, pp. 227-283, 5,172,778 12/1992 Tibbitts et al. 175/420.1 1995. 5,184,433 2/1993 Maack ....................................... 451/41 Pessier, R.C., et al., "Quantifying Common Drilling Prob 5,215,415 6/1993 Fukuoka et al. ....... 407/119 X lems With Mechanical Specific Energy and a Bit-Specific 5,217,081 6/1993 Waldenström et al. 175/.420.2 5,447208 9/1995 Lund et al. ........ ... 175/428 Coefficient of Sliding Friction", (SPE Paper No. 24584) 5,460.233 10/1995 Meany et al. .. ... 175/428 Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc., 1992, pp. 373-388. 5,504,303 4/1996 Nagy .................................. 219/121.68 Schey, John A. Tribology in Metalworking-Friction, Lubri OTHER PUBLICATIONS cation and Wear; American Society for Metals, 1983, pp. 573-616. Moore, D.T., Tutorials in Optics, Ch. 8, "Methods for Characterizing Surface Topography", (8 pages), undated. Simon, R., "Energy Balance in Rock Drilling", (SPE Paper Copy of two page brochure from Coborn Engineering Com No. 499) Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, Dec. pany Ltd. (undated). 1963, pp. 298–306. Three pages of photocopied photographs of hammers (undated). Smith, R.H., et al., "Drilling Plastic Formations. Using Copy of letter w/attachments from Mark R. Benenti of Highly Polished PDC Cutters”, (SPE Paper No. 30476) Hommell America Inc. to Gerald Angst of Hycalog dated Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc., 1995, pp. 29-44. Dec. 18, 1995, 8 pages. Teale, R., “The Concept of Specific Energy in Rock Drill Copy of a letter dated Nov. 15, 1995 from Bill Short of Bit ing”, Int. J. RockMech. Mining Set, vol. 2, 1965, p. 57-73. & Tool to David Hall of Novatek. Copy of four pages of a communication from Terry Matthias Wampler, Charles, et al., "Methodology for selecting PDC of Hycalog to Dean Lechtenberger of Arnold, White & bits cuts drilling costs”, Oil & Gas Journal, Jan. 15, 1990, Durkee-dated Jan. 9, 1995. pp., 39-44. Copy of letter from David Hall of Novatek to Ralph Horton Warren, T.M., et al., "Laboratory Drilling Performance of of Baker-Hughes Christensen (sic) (1 page), dated Oct. 24, PDC Bits". (SPEPaper No. 15617) SPE Drilling Engineer 1995. ing, Jun. 1988, pp. 125-135. Andersen, E.E., et al., "PDC-Bit Performance Under Simu lated Borehole Conditions”, (SPE Paper No. 20412) SPE Warren, T.M., et al., "Bottomhole Stress Factors Affecting Drilling & Completion, Sep. 1993, pp. 184-188. Drilling Rate at Depth”, Journal of Petroleum Technology, Argon, Ali S., et al., "Mechanical Behavior of Materials", Aug. 1985, pp. 1523-1533. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pp. 445 &461, Wilks, E.M., "The resistance of diamond and other gem undated. stones to abrasion", Clarendon Laboratory University of Clark, D.A., et al., "Comparison of Laboratory and Field Oxford UK, undated. Data for a PDC Bit", (SPE/IADC Paper No. 13459). SPE/ IADC 1985 Drilling Conference, pp. 323-325. Wilks, John, et al., “Properties and Applications of Dia Davis, J.R., "Technical Brief 51: Superabrasives”, ASM mond", Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd., 1991, pp. 290–309. Materials Engineering Dictionary, p. 465, 1992. Field, J.E., "The Properties of Diamond", pp. 359, 645 & European Search Report dated Sep. 13, 1996. 646, undated. VHS-format videotape program produced by the National Hemphill, Terry, et al., “Effects of PDC-Bit Selection and Research Laboratory, Melbourne, Australia, in cooperation Mud Chemistry on Drilling Rates in Shale", (SPEPaper No. with the National Centre of Tribology, Risley, United King 22579) SPE Drilling & Completion, Sep. 1994, pp. dom, directed to metal cutting with a single point machine 176-184. tool cutter as viewed with an SEM. U.S. Patent Aug. 5, 1997 Sheet 1 of 3 5,653,300 U.S. Patent Aug. 5, 1997 Sheet 2 of 3 5,653,300 40 2 11O O Fig. 5A (PRIOR ART U.S. Patent Aug. 5, 1997 Sheet 3 of 3 5,653,300 214 Fig. 7 5,653,300 1. 2 MODIFIED SUPERHARD CUTTING fluid from a plenum on the interior of the bit can be fed ELEMENTS HAVING REDUCED SURFACE through the support structure and to the edge of the cutting ROUGHNESS METHOD OF MODIFYING, element immediately adjacent the formation. U.S. Pat. No. DRILL BITS EQUIPPED WITH SUCH 4,984,642 to Renardet at discloses a cutting element having CUTTING ELEMENTS, AND METHODS OF a ridged or grooved cutting face on the diamond table to DRILLING THEREWITH promote the break-up of cuttings of the formation being drilled or in the case of a machine tool, the material being machined, which enhances their removal from the cutting This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent face. The irregular topography of the cutting face itself application Ser. No. 08/1156,086 filed Nov. 22, 1993, U.S. assists in preventing hulling or clogging of the drag bit by Pat. No. 5,447.208. 10 reducing the effective surface or contact area of the cutting BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION faces on the cutting elements, which also reduces the pres sure differential of the formation chips being cut. U.S. Pat. 1. Field of the Invention No. 5,172,778 to Tibbitts et al., assigned to the assignee of The present invention relates generally to cutting ele the present application, employs ridged, grooved, stair-step, ments for use with rotary drag bits, and more specifically to 15 scalloped, waved and other alternative non-planar cutting Superhard cutting elements having an extremely smooth surface topographies to permit and promote the access of finish on at least a portion of the leading surface or cutting fluid in the borehole to the area on the cutting element face.