Experimental and numerical analysis of rotary tricone drill bit and its wear prediction

In this study, a three-dimensional model of unused drilling bit was prepared in CAD design modular and analyzed using the ANSYS workbench. Static and fatigue analysis was carried out, and wear-affected area was investigated through FEM. From the analysis, the maximum deformation and maximum von Mises stress obtained are 0.019492 mm and 435.11 MPa, respectively. During fatigue analysis, the minimum tool life was obtained as 2084.9 cycle life. During the microstructure analysis, wear phenomenon such as plastic deformation is visible at a higher magnification of 600× . Crack is visible at a lower magnification 200× . Furthermore, EDX analysis has also been done on samples prepared from unused and used tricone drilling bit. A higher variation of carbon (C) content by weight percentage of unused and used tricone drilling bit was observed which indicates reducing ductility and malleability of the material.