4 Common Types of Core Drilling
Core drilling equipment is widely used in manufacturing processes as well as in the construction industry. Conventional drilling makes a hole in a material and generates waste, usually in the form of dust which needs to be cleared away afterward. The chief difference with a core drilling approach is that the drilled-out material – known as the core – is kept and can be used afterward.
As such, core drilling is useful when you want to make a hole in an expensive material or one that you would like to study. In fact, core drills are nothing new and were first used by the ancient Egyptians when digging into the soil. Although there are many different applications for core drills, read on to discover more about the main four.
1. Annular Cutting
This type of core drill was first patented in the 1970s. An annular cutter allows holes to be made in both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Not only is the core retained for inspection purposes or to be recycled, but such drilling is also deemed to be more accurate and more energy-efficient than other methods of making holes in metal.
2. Mineral Exploration Drilling
When geologists want to make an assessment of the soil, a core drill is often used as the best way of seeing what lies beneath the ground. The advantage of a core drill is that it keeps the core intact. This means that geologists can undertake studies of the material in the exact way it is layered up. Since geology often relies on seeing one layer of sediment on top of another, a core is a perfect way of taking a snapshot of geological time without the need to dig a deep trench. Although this approach is used in archaeology, its chief application is to look for conditions where certain high-value minerals might be found.
3. Petrochemical Drilling
Getting oil and gas reserves out of the ground is a global industry nowadays. Many of the techniques that have been perfected with core drilling over the years have been developed due to the demand for oil and gas. Electric, pneumatic and hydraulic core drills are used in the petrochemical industry, and some drills of this type are even used out at sea where they take cores from the bottoms of the ocean.
4. Ice Sheet Drilling
These days, ecologists are using frozen ice to study the world's past environment. By drilling out cores of permanent ice from Antarctica, for example, and looking at trapped air bubbles, it has been possible to make a study of ozone levels from centuries ago. Such work goes on in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
