How To Use Diamond Tool To Cut Steel In Micro Machining
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How to Use Diamond Tools to Cut Steel in Micro Machining
Summary
Diamond tools, while incredibly hard and resistant to heat, face significant wear when cutting steel due to a unique vulnerability. This article explores methods to extend diamond tool life and enhance efficiency in micro machining.
Keywords
Diamond tool, steel cutting, ultrasonic vibration, micro machining, surface finish, precision, machining process.
Article Body
Diamond tools are widely used in micro machining due to their ability to withstand the micro hardening of workpiece surfaces. This hardening can easily break other tools in micro milling, but not diamonds. Diamond tools enable high-speed machining, producing mirror-like surfaces and high dimensional accuracy in non-ferrous alloys and abrasive materials.
However, cutting steel poses a challenge. Despite diamond's extreme hardness and resistance to high temperatures (softening at 1350°C and melting at 3027°C), it has a weakness: graphitization. In the presence of catalyst metals like carbon steel, titanium, nickel, and cobalt, diamond transforms into graphite at around 200°C. This leads to severe tool wear.
Various methods have been attempted to improve diamond tool life when cutting steel, such as micro-cutting in carbon-rich or cryogenically cooled environments. These methods, however, require expensive equipment modifications and complicate process oversight.
A significant advance has been the application of ultrasonic vibration during micro-cutting. This technique enhances the diamond tool's performance, achieving a mirror surface finish and extending tool life significantly. Ultrasonic vibration cools the tool tip during cutting, delaying the chemical reaction between the diamond and steel, and increasing tool life by several hundred times.
For instance, using a single crystal diamond tool with a feed rate of 5 microns per revolution, cutting speed up to 5m/min, and a 10-micron depth of cut, attached to an ultrasonic vibration generator, resulted in a mirror surface finish on stainless steel measured at 8 nm Ra.
With more machining companies exploring micro machining, ultrasonic vibration-assisted cutting offers a path to process leadership and innovation in the industry.
You can find the original non-AI version of this article here: How To Use Diamond Tool To Cut Steel In Micro Machining .
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