Study on Femtosecond Laser Processing Characteristics of Nano-Crystalline CVD Diamond Coating

Ultra-short pulse laser interaction with diamond materials has attracted extensive interest in micro- and nano-machining, especially for the fabrication of micro tools, because of the straightforward method and high precision. Thanks to the development of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology, high-quality CVD diamonds are employed in more varieties of tools as performance-enhancing coatings. The purpose of the experiments reported here was to explore the machinability of CVD diamond coating under the irradiation of femtosecond (fs) pulsed laser. The factor-control approach was adopted to investigate the influence of scanning speed, single pulse energy and repetition rate on the surface quality and carbon phase transition of CVD diamond coating. The material removal rate and surface roughness were evaluated. The interaction mechanism of scanning speed, single pulse energy, and repetition rate were discussed, and the fs laser ablation threshold of CVD diamond coating was calculated. It was demonstrated that two ablation mechanisms (weak and intensive) were in existence as evidenced by the distinct surface morphologies induced under different processing conditions. A strong dependence on the variation of scanning speed and pulse energy is identified in the examination of surface roughness and removal rate. Lorentzian–Gaussian deconvolution of Raman spectra illustrates that fs laser irradiation yields a strong modification effect on the coating and release the compressive stress in it. Furthermore, a newly defined parameter referring to the fs laser energies applied to unit volume was introduced to depict the degree of ablation and the Taguchi method was used to figure out the significance of different parameters. The ablation threshold of CVD diamond coating at the effective pulses of 90 is calculated to be 0.138 J/cm2.

Design of Deterministic Microstructures as Substrate Pre-Treatment for CVD Diamond Coating

The coating of highly stressed components with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond can extend their lifetime. In particular, the combination of steel substrates with diamond layers would find many applications in industrial production. However, there are some challenges, for example, the high mismatch in the thermal expansion between steel and diamond, which commonly leads to the delamination of the coating. Thus, a pre-treatment of the substrate surface is needed. Particle blasting has been established in some studies as a suitable process. However, apart from particle residues in the surface of the substrate, these surfaces have a stochastic character, which limits their reproducibility and modification options. This paper presents some instructions for the recording and derivation of defined properties of those surfaces. The conversion of characteristic surface features into quantitative process parameters could serve as the foundation for the manufacturing of deterministic microstructures, especially those produced by ultrasonic vibration superimposed machining. This should increase the reproducibility and the possibilities of the modification with regard to the structural shaping of the functional surface. The design was developed using both a kinematic surface simulation tool as well as a finite elements analysis for the cooling process of the coating–substrate–composite. A high accordance with real finished surfaces was achieved.

INFLUENCE OF EMBEDDED TUNGSTEN PARTICLES ON MECHANICAL BEHAVIORS OF CVD DIAMOND COATING

Diamond coating has gained intensive attraction in the tribological field due to its high hardness. However, its weak flexibility always gives rise to the fragile crack, which causes the delamination and peeling off from substrate. In this work, a novel deposition method combining the conventional hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) and particles doping technique is proposed to balance the hardness and flexibility of diamond coating, by which the diamond coating with tungsten particles is deposited on the co-cemented tungsten carbide substrate. The as-deposited diamond coating is characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, surface roughness and Raman spectrum. The indentation tests are conducted to evaluate the crack propagation of diamond coating. Tribological behavior is examined on a reciprocating ball-on-plate tribometer. The results indicate that tungsten carbide may be formed between tungsten particles and diamond coating. The W–WC–amorphous carbon–diamond structural coating can validly inhibit the crack propagation and decrease the friction coefficient. Hence, adding embedding particles into the diamond coating may provide a useful way in enhancing the mechanical properties of diamond coating.