PDC Bits

 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.

We offer PDC bits in a variety of sizes and number of blades. Please contact us if you have questions.

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.

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.