Research on Low-Carbon, Energy-Saving Sintering Process with Uniform Temperature for Drill Bits

A low-carbon and energy-saving sintering process with uniform temperature distribution has been developed to address several issues associated with the sintering of drill bits in medium-frequency furnaces, namely, the large circumferential temperature differences, uneven heating of the mold, and low energy utilization. Theoretical calculations indicated that the output energy of the conventional drill bit sintering process was 12.7 kW·h, with an energy loss of 8.84 kW·h. The low-carbon sintering process achieved an output energy of 4.2 kW·h, with an energy loss of only 0.26 kW·h. Consequently, the energy utilization rates for the two processes were 30.4% and 93.8%, respectively. It was observed through the experiment that when sintering 76/49 mm drill bits at insulation temperatures of 900 °C and 1080 °C, the circumferential temperature differences in the mold were 43.7 °C and 48 °C, respectively, in the conventional drill bit sintering process. In contrast, the circumferential temperature differences in the mold were reduced to 8.7 °C and 11.3 °C, respectively, in the low-carbon and energy-saving sintering process with uniform temperature. This indicates that the average circumferential temperature difference in the mold can be reduced by 81.61% at 900 °C and by 76.46% at 1080 °C, leading to improved drill bit quality.