What is PDC Bit?

Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits are made with synthetic diamond cutters in either steel or matrix body material. PDC drill bits revolutionized the drilling industry with a wide application range and high rate of penetration (ROP) potential. Unlike roller cones, these polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits are one piece bodies with no moving parts. The fixed-cutters shave away the rock, making it possible to operate with higher rotation speeds more efficiently in consolidated formations.

PDC Bit

What Does Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Bit Mean?

A polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit is a bit that uses synthetic diamond disks, called "cutters," to shear its way through the rock with an ongoing scraping motion. The PDC bit is particularly suited to drilling through shale formations, which present some specific problems with regard to borehole instability, such as borehole narrowing.

Types of PDC Bits

1. Matrix Body PDC Bits

“Matrix” is a very hard, rather brittle composite material comprising tungsten carbide grains metallurgically bonded with a softer, tougher, metallic binder. Matrix is desirable as a bit material because its hardness is resistant to abrasion and erosion. It is capable of withstanding relatively high compressive loads, but, compared with steel, has low resistance to impact loading.

Matrix is relatively heterogeneous because it is a composite material. Because the size and placement of the particles of tungsten carbide it contains vary (by both design and circumstances), its physical properties are slightly less predictable than steel.

Matrix-body PDC bits are commonly preferred over steel-body bits for environments in which body erosion is likely to cause a bit to fail. For diamond-impregnated bits, only matrix-body construction can be used.

2. Steel Body PDC Bits

Steel is the opposite of matrix. It can of withstanding high impact loads, but is softer and lacks protective features. The strength and ductility of steel give steel-bit bodies high impact resistance. Steel bodies are considerably stronger than matrix bodies.

A beneficial feature of steel bits is that they can easily be rebuilt a number of times because worn or damaged cutters can be replaced rather easily. This is a particular advantage for operators in low-cost drilling environments.

Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) Cutters

Diamond is the hardest material known. This hardness gives it superior properties for cutting any other material. PDC is extremely important to drilling, because it aggregates tiny, inexpensive, manmade diamonds into relatively large, intergrown masses of randomly oriented crystals that can be formed into useful shapes called diamond tables. Diamond tables are the part of a cutter that contacts a formation. Besides their hardness, PDC diamond tables have an essential characteristic for drill-bit cutters: They efficiently bond with tungsten carbide materials that can be brazed (attached) to bit bodies. Diamonds, by themselves, will not bond together, nor can they be attached by brazing.

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