DEPOSITION OF DIAMOND FOR CUTTING TOOL APPLICATIONS

Abstract
The poor adhesion of diamond film to substrates is one of the major problems for practical use in a cutting tool (1-4). in this study, sintered tungsten carbide (WC) body without Co metal, not cemented carbide, was used as the substrate (5), and the effects of surface decarburization of the substrate for improvement in the adhesion of diamond films were investigated. The surface decarburization and diamond coating were carried out in a microwave plasma CVD system. From the results of several adhesion tests, including the cutting tests, it is concluded that the good adhesion is obtained by surface decarburization of the substrate before diamond coating. The reasons for improvement in adhesion are considered by observing the interface structure between the film and the substrate. The damage mechanism of diamond coating on cutting an AI-18%Si alloy with increasing cutting speed is also discussed.