Development of diamond-coated drills and their cutting performance

作者:Chen, M*; Jian, XG; Sun, FH; Hu, B; Liu, XS
来源:Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2002, 129(1-3): 81-85.
DOI:10.1016/S0924-0136(02)00580-0

摘要

Compared with sintered polycrystalline diamond, deposited thin film diamond has great advantage in the fabrication of cutting tools with complex geometries such as drills. Because of their low costs for fabrication equipment and their high performance in the high speed machining of non-ferrous metals and alloys, metal-compound materials, and hard brittle non-metals, diamond-coated drills find great potentialities for commercial application. However, the poor adhesion of the diamond film to the substrate becomes the main technical barrier for the successful development and commercialization of diamond-coated tools. In this paper, diamond thin films were deposited on to WC-Co-based drills by electron-aided hot filament chemical vapor deposition (EACVD). A new multiple chemical pretreatment technology including microwave oxidation, reaction in alkaline solution and cleaning by ultrasonic treatment in acid solution was developed and its affects on diamond adhesion strength, nucleation and surface morphology were investigated. At the same time, a special set-up to fabricate diamond-coated drills was also developed. A novel CVD process based on the varied parameters controlling model is presented, whereby a uniform quality and homogenized thickness of the diamond coating can be obtained. From the practical utilization viewpoint, the cutting performance of the diamond-coated drill was studied by drilling SiC particle reinforced aluminum matrix composite. Satisfactory wear resistance and decrease of torque and thrust led to the long life of this kind of drill. This paper presents meaningful work for the development of cutting tools with complex geometries, to further extend the application of diamond material.