**3.3 Shaped cutters**

PDC cutters are key components of the drill bit. Most PDC cutters in drill bits have flat diamond cutting tables or layers. Recently, due to advances in cutter material *Applications of Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) Materials in Oil and Gas Industry DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107355*

**Figure 6.** *Examples of shaped PDC cutters.*

development and geometry cutting technology, special-shaped PDC cutters, for example ax-shaped cutters (ASC) (**Figure 6**), have been warmly welcomed by drilling engineers to drill many hard and abrasive formations [17]. The shape of the PDC cutter has a great influence on the impact resistance of the component and the mechanism of cutting the formation, which greatly affects the performance of the PDC drill bit.
