Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.

Jeffrey Gerard Thomas

Grant O Cook, Iii

Garrett T Olsen

Clayton Arthur Ownby

Daniel Brendan Voglewede

Ronald Eugene Joy

Seth Garrett Anderle

Yi Pan

Gary Eugene Weaver

William Brian Atkins

Michael Clark

Ron Joy

Kelley Leigh Plunkett

John Leslie Wisinger, Jr

Brian Atkins

Kevin Clark

John William Varner

Matthew S Farny

Nicholas Allison

Matthew Steven Famy

Randy T Howell

Travis Samuel Mixon

Alec C Murchie

A variety of methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed, including, in one embodiment, a drill bit, comprising: a bit body defining a rotational axis and having a plurality of cutter pockets formed thereon, each cutter pocket shaped to receive a respective substrate of a cutter with a cutting table secured thereon, wherein the substrate of at least one cutter has an outer profile defining an area of increased braze gap; and a braze interface comprising a braze alloy disposed in each cutter pocket between the inner profile of the cutter pocket and the outer profile of the respective substrate, such that a thickness of the braze alloy is greater at the area of increased braze gap.

Drill bit cutter with stress reducing features

A strain magnification apparatus can have a first section and a second section coupled with the first section. The second section can have a lower stiffness relative to the first portion and a strain gauge coupled thereto. The first section is operable to be coupled to a tool experiencing strain and the tool is formed from a material having lower elasticity than the second section.

Strain magnification

Tools, for example, fixed cutter drill bits, may be manufactured to include hard composite portions having reinforcing particles dispersed in a continuous binder phase and auxiliary portions that are more machinable than the hard composite portions. For example, a tool may include a hard composite portion having a machinability rating 0.2 or less; and an auxiliary portion having a machinability rating of 0.6 or greater in contact with the hard composite portion. The boundary or interface between the hard composite portion and the auxiliary portion may be designed so that upon removal of the most or all of the auxiliary portion the resultant tool has a desired geometry without having to machine the hard composite portion.

Methods of removing shoulder powder from fixed cutter bits

A system for fabricating an infiltrated downhole tool for introduction into a wellbore includes a mold assembly including a binder bowl, a mold, a preformed blank, and a funnel. The binder bowl has a lower portion and a plurality of apertures extending through the lower portion. The preformed blank is disposed within the infiltration chamber to provide an attachment area for a body of the infiltrated downhole tool, and the funnel is disposed intermediate the binder bowl and the mold. The system further includes a binder flow channel which extends through at least one of the preformed blank, the funnel, or a displacement core disposed within the mold assembly, the blank being concentrically arranged around the displacement core.

Rapid infiltration of drill bit with multiple binder flow channels

A blend including 50% to 95% reinforcing particles by weight, and 5% to 50% filler particles by weight, of the blend, wherein the reinforcing particles have mean particle size within 70% or less of the mean particle size of the filler particles is disclosed. Such blends can be used to prepare metal matrix composites that can be infiltrated with a binder to form harden composites that can be used for the manufacture of tools.

Segregation mitigation when producing metal-matrix composites reinforced with a filler metal

Fixed-cutter matrix bits comprising hardfaced elements on the gauge pads, and methods of manufacture and using. An example fixed-cutter matrix bit comprises a matrix bit body, a plurality of cutter elements secured at fixed locations to the matrix bit body, and a plurality of gauge pads disposed on the matrix bit body; wherein at least one of the gauge pads includes a hardfaced exterior surface. The hardfaced exterior surface may comprise a material selected from the group consisting of tungsten, niobium, vanadium, molybdenum, silicon, titanium, tantalum, zirconium, chromium, yttrium, boron, carbon, carbides thereof, nitrides thereof, borides thereof, oxides thereof, silicides thereof, and combinations thereof. The hardfaced exterior surface may be fused to the at least one gauge pad during the infiltration process of manufacturing the matrix bit body.

Fixed-cutter matrix bits with repairable gauge pads

A mold assembly and method for fabricating an infiltrated drill bit may comprise a mold forming a bottom of the mold assembly, a funnel operatively coupled to the mold, an infiltration chamber defined at least partially by the mold and the funnel to receive and contain matrix reinforcement materials and a binder material used to form the infiltrated drill bit, a displacement core arranged within the infiltration chamber and having one or more legs that extend therefrom, a metal blank arranged about the displacement core within the infiltration chamber, and one or more thermal elements. A method may comprise providing a mold assembly having component parts that include a mold that forms a bottom of the mold assembly and a funnel operatively coupled to the mold, imparting thermal energy to the infiltration chamber with one or more thermal element, and heating contents contained within the infiltration chamber.

Mold assemblies that actively heat infiltrated downhole tools

A metal-matrix composite includes a reinforced composite material including reinforcement material dispersed in a binder material. The reinforcement material includes a metallic component dispersed with reinforcing particles and at least 25 percent of the metallic component has a particle size of 50 microns or less.

Reinforcement material blends with a small particle metallic component for metal-matrix composites

An example system for fabricating an infiltrated downhole tool includes a mold assembly having one or more component parts and defining an infiltration chamber to receive and contain matrix reinforcement materials and a binder material used to form the infiltrated downhole tool. One or more thermal conduits are positioned within the one or more component parts for circulating a thermal fluid through at least one of the one or more component parts and thereby placing the thermal fluid in thermal communication with the infiltration chamber.

Heat-exchanging mold assemblies for infiltrated downhole tools

A metal matrix composite (MMC) may be formed with two or more portions each having different reinforcing particles that enhance strength, wear resistance, or both of their respective portions of the MMC. Selective placement of the different reinforcing particles may be achieved using magnetic members. For example, in some instances, forming an MMC may involve placing reinforcement materials within an infiltration chamber of a mold assembly, the reinforcement materials comprising magnetic reinforcing particles and non-magnetic reinforcing particles; positioning one or more magnetic members relative to the mold assembly to selectively locate the magnetic reinforcing particles within the infiltration chamber with respect to the non-magnetic reinforcing particles; and infiltrating the reinforcement materials with a binder material to form a hard composite.

Magnetic positioning of reinforcing particles when forming metal matrix composites

A metal matrix composite (MMC) tool includes a mesoscale-reinforced hard composite portion that comprises reinforcing particles and mesoscale reinforcing structures dispersed in a binder material. The mesoscale reinforcing structures are printed using at least one additive manufacturing technique and are larger than an average powder-size distribution of the reinforcing particles.

Mesoscale reinforcement of metal matrix composites

A part includes a three-dimensional porous metallic workpiece printed via an additive manufacturing process and subsequently subjected to a diffusion-based process to convert at least a portion of the porous metallic workpiece to a ceramic workpiece or an intermetallic workpiece.

Methods of fabricating ceramic or intermetallic parts

An example mold assembly for fabricating an infiltrated downhole tool includes a mold defining a bottom of the mold assembly and a funnel operatively coupled to the mold. An infiltration chamber is defined at least partially by the mold and the funnel to receive and contain matrix reinforcement materials and a binder material used to form the infiltrated downhole tool. A thermal mass is positioned within the infiltration chamber above the infiltrated downhole tool for imparting heat to the infiltrated downhole tool following an infiltration process.

Mold assemblies with integrated thermal mass for fabricating infiltrated downhole tools

An example mold assembly for fabricating an infiltrated downhole tool includes a mold forming a bottom of the mold assembly, and a funnel operatively coupled to the mold. An infiltration chamber is defined at least partially by the mold and the funnel to receive and contain matrix reinforcement materials and a binder material used to form the infiltrated downhole tool. One or more thermal elements are positioned within at least one of the mold and the funnel, and the one or more thermal elements are in thermal communication with the infiltration chamber.

A metal matrix composite tool that includes a hard composite portion comprising a reinforcement material infiltrated with a binder material, wherein the reinforcement material comprises a refractory metal component dispersed with reinforcing particles, wherein a surface roughness of the reinforcing particles is at least two times greater than the refractory metal component, wherein the refractory metal component has a failure strain of at least 0.05 and a shear modulus of 200 GPa or less, and wherein the reinforcing particles have a failure strain of 0.01 or less but at least five times less than the failure strain of the refractory metal component, and the reinforcing particles have a shear modulus of greater than 200 GPa and at least two times greater than the shear modulus of the refractory metal component. The reinforcing particles may comprise an intermetallic, a boride, a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, a ceramic, and/or a diamond.

Growing community of inventors

Magnolia, TX, United States of America

Jeffrey Gerard Thomas