This study investigates the thermal shock property of a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) produced by a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) sintering process. Three kinds of PDCs are manufactured by the HPHT sintering process using different particle sizes of the initial diamond powders: 8-16 μm (D50 = 4.3 μm), 10-20 μm (D50 = 6.92 μm), and 12-22 μm (D50 = 8.94 μm). The microstructure observation results for the manufactured PDCs reveal that elemental Co and W are present along the interface of the diamond particles. The fractions of Co and WC in the PDC increase as the initial particle size decreases. The manufactured PDCs are subjected to thermal shock tests at two temperatures of 780°C and 830°C. The results reveal that the PDC with a smaller particle size of diamond easily produces microscale thermal cracks. This is mainly because of the abundant presence of Co and WC phases along the diamond interface and the easy formation of Co-based (CoO, Co₃O₄) and W-based (WO₂) oxides in the PDC using smaller diamond particles. The microstructural factors for controlling the thermal shock property of PDC material are also discussed.

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Citations to this article as recorded by  

• HPHT sintering and performance investigation of PDC with different interfacial geometry substrates for trimodal diamond particle size
  Jianbo Tu, Xueqi Wang, Haibo Zhang, Baochang Liu
  Ceramics International.2024; 50(11): 19074.     CrossRef
• HPHT sintering and performance investigation of PDC with high stacking density by dual particle size diamond formulations
  Jianbo Tu, Xueqi Wang, Baochang Liu
  International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials.2024; 124: 106802.     CrossRef

This study investigates the microstructure and thermal shock properties of polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) produced by the high-temperature, high-pressure (HPHT) process. The diamond used for the investigation features a 12~22 μm- and 8~16 μm-sized main particles, and 1~2 μm-sized filler particles. The filler particle ratio is adjusted up to 5~31% to produce a mixed particle, and then the tap density is measured. The measurement finds that as the filler particle ratio increases, the tap density value continuously increases, but at 23% or greater, it reduces by a small margin. The mixed particle described above undergoes an HPHT sintering process. Observation of PDC microstructures reveals that the filler particle ratio with high tap density value increases direct bonding among diamond particles, Co distribution becomes even, and the Co and W fraction also decreases. The produced PDC undergoes thermal shock tests with two temperature conditions of 820 and 830, and the results reveals that PDC with smaller filler particle ratio and low tap density value easily produces cracks, while PDC with high tap density value that contributes in increased direct bonding along with the higher diamond content results in improved thermal shock properties.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• HPHT sintering and performance investigation of PDC with different interfacial geometry substrates for trimodal diamond particle size
  Jianbo Tu, Xueqi Wang, Haibo Zhang, Baochang Liu
  Ceramics International.2024; 50(11): 19074.     CrossRef
• HPHT sintering and performance investigation of PDC with high stacking density by dual particle size diamond formulations
  Jianbo Tu, Xueqi Wang, Baochang Liu
  International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials.2024; 124: 106802.     CrossRef