Rock-breaking performances of innovative triangular-shaped polycrystalline diamond compact cutter.

Due to high hardness and high abrasion, conventional planar polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutters can easily get broken and dull when drilling in (ultra-)deep formations. To enhance the drilling performance, an innovative kind of non-planar PDC cutter, namely, a triangular-shaped PDC cutter, has been developed by altering the 2D planar cutting face into a 3D cutting structure of a triangular trustum of a pyramid. According to the numerical simulation results, the triangular-shaped PDC cutter can easily break hard rocks by a smaller cutting force than the conventional planar PDC cutter. Furthermore, it requires less mechanical specific energy for breaking the same volume of rock than the planar PDC cutter. The triangular-shaped PDC cutter shows great potential in improving the drilling performances of the PDC bit in hard and abrasive formations.