| abstract |
A polycrystalline diamond cutter having a coating of refractory material applied to the polycrystalline diamond surface increases the operational life of the cutter. The coating typically has a thickness in the range of from 0.1 to 30 μm and may be made from titanium nitride, titanium carbide, titanium carbonitride, titanium aluminum carbonitride, titanium aluminum nitride, boron carbide, zirconium carbide, chromium carbide, chromium nitride, or any of the transition metals or Group IV metals combined with either silicon, aluminum, boron, carbon, nitrogen or oxygen. The coating can be applied using conventional plating or other physical or chemical deposition techniques. |