Patent ID: 7571782

Claim:
A drill bit, comprising: a steel body disposed intermediate a threaded end and a working face; the steel body comprising a plurality of steel blades disposed along an outer diameter of the body and extending radially away from an axis of rotation of the bit; a plurality of cutter elements disposed on the plurality of steel blades; the cutting elements each comprising a sintered body of diamond bonded to a cemented metal carbide substrate at a non-planar interface; the plurality of steel blades each comprising a steel stiffness and a steel elastic modulus; at least one of the plurality of steel blades comprising a plurality of substantially cylindrical, carbide segments brazed behind and substantially coaxial with the plurality of cutter elements and being brazed to the substrate of the cutting elements; and carbide backing plates are brazed to the back surface of the blade that forms part of the junk slot; wherein the segments and backing plate together increase the stiffness of the blade by at least 3.5 times the steel stiffness.