Research on Fe-based impregnated diamond drill bits strengthened by Nano-NbC and Nano-WC

In order to improve the matrix performance of impregnated diamond drill bit to better meet the drilling needs,the effects of the addition of nano-WC and nano-NbC particles on the matrix material together with the mechanical properties and microstructure of the diamond-matrix composite material of the Fe-based diamond drill bit were studied by using the method of uniform formula design,regression analysis and solution finding.An indoor drilling test was also carried out using the fabricated impregnated diamond drill bit.The results showed that after the addition of nano-NbC and nano-WC,the hardness and flexural strength of the matrix material got improved,as the flexural strength of the diamond composite material increased to 4.29%,the wear-resistance ratio increased to 8.75%,and the tighter the chemical bonding between the diamond and the matrix.This,indicates that the addition of nanoparticles has a positive significance in improving the performance of the diamond composite.The results of the drilling test showed that the mechanical drilling speed of the impregnated diamond drill bit after nanoparticle strengthening is 25.85%higher than that of the conventional drill bit,and the matrix wear was increased by 17.5%.It proves that nanoparticles can improve the drilling performance and efficiency of drill bit.

Discussion of reasonable drilling parameters in impregnated diamond bit drilling

The impregnated diamond(ID)bit drilling is one of the main rotary drilling methods in hard rock drilling and it is widely used in mineral exploration,oil and gas exploration,mining,and construction industries.In this study,the quadratic polynomial model in ID bit drilling process was proposed as a function of controllable mechanical operating parameters,such as weight on bit(WOB)and revolutions per minute(RPM).Also,artificial neural networks(ANN)model for predicting the rate of penetration(ROP)was developed using datasets acquired during the drilling operation.The relationships among mechanical operating parameters(WOB and RPM)and ROP in ID bit drilling were analyzed using estimated quadratic polynomial model and trained ANN model.The results show that ROP has an exponential relationship with WOB,whereas ROP has linear relationship with RPM.Finally,the optimal regime of mechanical drilling parameters to achieve high ROP was confirmed using proposed model in combination with rock breaking principal.