Machining of Hypereutectic Al-Si Alloy with CVD Diamond Coated Si4N4. Inserts

Abstract Due to its excellent mechanical properties, diamond can be used for many applications in mechanical engineering. With the help of the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method it is possible to deposit polycrystalline diamond films on different substrate materials of nearly any shape and surface. So diamond cutting tools with complex geometry are now possible. In this investigation diamond coatings deposited by microwave plasma CVD (MW-PACVD) on Si3N4 inserts were used for turning experiments. By means of changes in the CH4/H2 gas ratio two different types of film morphology were generated, one rather highly faceted and the other one fine-grained ballas-type surface microstructure. The cutting performance of the CVD diamond coated triangular silicon nitride inserts was analyzed for continuous dry turning of the hypereutectic AISi 17Cu4Mg alloy with different cutting speeds. During the experiments no wear of the diamond films could be detected; nevertheless, the adhesion to the Si3N4 substrate has st...