Cutting & Wear is launching TSP-Xtreme, a new TSP (Thermally Stable Polycrystalline) diamond insert.
Offshore staff
ROTHERHAM, UK -- Cutting & Wear is launching TSP-Xtreme, a new TSP (Thermally Stable Polycrystalline) diamond insert. The insert is applied using QuickTip, a system for the application of hardfacing to downhole tools.
TSP-Xtreme combines the hardness and abrasive resistance of diamond and the toughness of tungsten carbide, according to Cutting & Wear. The new product is designed to give downhole tools improved wear performance and durability, the company says.
In an effort to improve the temperature stability of PDC inserts, manufacturers acid-leached cobalt and other catalyst binders from PDC and back-filled with silicon, creating thermally-stable polycrystalline diamond (TSP). TSP can withstand brazing temperatures up to 1200º C (2192 ° F), but the loss of cobalt makes the inserts difficult to bond to the steel substrate. Cutting & Wear believes it has overcome this problem by encasing the TSP insert in a tungsten carbide jacket.
