Earth-boring drill bits with nanotube carpets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016265283-A1
Application number	US-201314410157-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 18, 2013
Priority date	Dec 18, 2013
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An earth-boring drill bit includes a bit body having a powder component and a binder. The powder component includes a plurality of nanotubes disposed on a surface of at least one particle of the powder component.

First claim

We claim:

1 . An earth-boring drill bit comprising:
a bit body having a powder component and a binder, the powder component including a plurality of nanotubes disposed on a surface of at least one particle of the powder component.

2 . The earth-boring drill bit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanotubes is grown on the surface of the powder component.

3 . The earth-boring drill bit of claim 1 , wherein the powder component comprises tungsten carbide.

4 . The earth-boring drill bit of claim 1 , wherein as the bit body is worn away, previously unexposed carbon nanotubes associated with the powder component are exposed.

5 . The earth-boring drill bit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanotubes includes multi-walled nanotubes.

6 . The earth-boring drill bit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanotubes creates mechanical interactions between the carpet of nanotubes and the binder.

7 . A method of making an earth-boring drill bit, the method comprising:
forming nanotube carpets on a powder component; and infiltrating the powder component with a binder in a mold to form a drill bit.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the forming nanotube carpets includes:
depositing nanoparticles on the powder component; treating the powder component with growth gases; and heating the powder component in the presence of the growth gases.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the depositing of nanoparticles further comprises:
providing a salt solution on the powder component; and evaporating the salt solution.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the nanoparticles are selected from a group consisting of iron nanoparticles, cobalt nanoparticles, nickel nanoparticles, and copper nanoparticles.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the nanoparticles are placed in a mold for the drill bit prior to the forming of nanotube carpets.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the powder component is tungsten carbide.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the infiltrating includes wicking the binder component with the nanotube carpets to fill interstitial spaces.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the growth gases are selected from a group consisting of methane, acetylene, ethylene, carbon monoxide, methanol, and ethanol.

15 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the nanotube carpets include multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

16 . The method of claim 7 , wherein during infiltration, the oxygen concentration in the mold is controlled to prevent the degradation of the nanotube carpets.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the controlling of the oxygen concentration is performed by immersing the mold in an inert gas.

18 . A fixed cutter drill bit comprising:
a bit body; and a plurality of cutters disposed on the bit body; wherein the bit body includes a carpet of nanotubes disposed on a surface of a powder component forming the bit body.

19 . The fixed cutter drill bit of claim 18 , wherein the at least one of the bit body and the plurality of cutters further includes a binder.

20 . The fixed cutter drill bit of claim 18 , wherein the carpet of nanotubes is grown on the powder component.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Olsen Garrett T
• Thomas Jeffrey G

Classifications

• E21B10/54 Primary

  the bit being of the rotary drag type, e.g. fork-type bits · CPC title

• C04B2235/422

  Carbon · CPC title

• C04B35/6303

  Inorganic additives · CPC title

• E21B10/08

  Roller bits (E21B10/26 takes precedence; roller core bits E21B10/06; characterised by wear resisting parts E21B10/50) · CPC title

• C04B35/5626

  based on tungsten carbides · CPC title