Abstract: To further study the rock-breaking mechanism of the axe blade PDC cutter, a 3D finite element model of the dynamic rock breaking of the PDC cutter was established, and a comparative study of three axe cutters with different angles was evaluated. The result shows that the blade with 135° has higher shearing force and cutting force compared to those of cutters with 150° and 165°, which results in a higher efficiency on rock breaking. It is also found that with the same back rake angle, cutting depth and cutting force, the axe blade with 165° cutting edge shows a smaller fluctuation than those of others. Compared with the data collected from vertical lathe (VTL), the trend of simulation results matches with the experiment one and the deviations between experiment and finite element analysis (FEA) can be accepted.