CUSTOMER:	RockBit International, Inc., (Fort Worth, TX) www.rbi-gearhart.com
TITLE:	Fracture Toughness Tester for Tungsten Carbide Inserts for Drill Bit Cones
FUNDING:	$18,000
GOAL:	To design a system and procedure to determine the fracture toughness of tungsten-carbide cone bit inserts procured by RockBit for use in their finished bits sold to the oil and gas drilling industry.  These cone bit inserts were procured by RockBit from its vendor with no independent verification of their fracture toughness.  The system designed to enable this verification to occur depended on a standard test specimen configuration, specific edm starter notch, ball screw drive assembly, force and displacement measurement instrumentation, and computer based analysis equipment.