Effect of Si and Ti Coating on Interface Bonding between Diamond and Fe-Based Metal Bond

Fe-based metal bond has been widely used in fabricating diamond tools recently since the production cost could be greatly reduced for the low price of iron. However, graphitizing elements such as Fe, Co and Ni in the matrix catalyze the transformation of diamond to graphite during high temperature sintering process, which significantly decreases the tool’s efficiency and lifetime. In this paper, Si and Ti coating were coated on diamond grits by quasi atomic layer deposition (QALD) and vacuum slow vapor deposition (VSVD) separately not only to protect diamond from erosion but also to promote the adhesion between diamond grits and the bond. Three-point bending experiment was taken to measure the bending strength of Fe-Cu-Sn-Ni based metal bond diamond blade. In comparison with uncoated diamond blade, the bending strength of coated diamond blade improves dramatically. The theoretic calculation shows that the interface bonding strength between diamond and the metal bond increases by 181.68MPa owing to the Si coating. The effect of Si and Ti coating on interface bonding between diamond and the bond under different sintering temperatures was also illuminated.