US 12,233,510 B1
Leached polycrystalline diamond elements
Daren Nathaniel Heaton, Spanish Fork, UT (US); Jeremy Brett Lynn, Nephi, UT (US); Mark Pehrson Chapman, Provo, UT (US); and Oakley D. Bond, Nephi, UT (US)
Assigned to US Synthetic Corporation, Orem, UT (US)
Filed by US SYNTHETIC CORPORATION, Orem, UT (US)
Filed on Apr. 6, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/841,339.
Application 16/841,339 is a division of application No. 14/879,907, filed on Oct. 9, 2015, granted, now 10,610,999.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/096,315, filed on Dec. 23, 2014.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/062,553, filed on Oct. 10, 2014.
Int. Cl. B24D 3/06 (2006.01); C25F 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC B24D 3/06 (2013.01) [C25F 1/00 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of making a polycrystalline diamond element, the method comprising:
exposing an electrode and at least a portion of a polycrystalline diamond material to a processing solution, wherein the polycrystalline diamond material includes a plurality of diamond grains defining a plurality of interstitial regions, at least a portion of the plurality of interstitial regions including a metallic material and at least one tungsten-containing material disposed therein;
while the electrode and the at least the portion of the polycrystalline diamond material are exposed to the processing solution, applying an electrical potential between the electrode and the polycrystalline diamond material to cause an electrochemical leaching process;
selecting at least one of the processing solution or a characteristic of the electrochemical leaching process to provide a preferential leaching of at least a portion of the metallic material from the polycrystalline diamond material over the at least one tungsten-containing material; and
removing relatively more of a content of the metallic material from the plurality of interstitial regions of the polycrystalline diamond material than a content of the at least one tungsten-containing material during the preferential leaching of the electrochemical leaching process to form a leached volume, wherein the metallic material is present in the leached volume in a first concentration of greater than 0 to about 1.5 weight % and the at least one tungsten-containing material is present in the leached volume in a second concentration of greater than 0 to about 4 weight %.