DEC - diamond enhanced carbides - a new super-hard material with enhanced wear resistance

Abstract

The paper presents the application of the pulse plasma consolidation (PPC) method in the field of diamond composites sintered under conditions of thermodynamic instability of diamond for the manufacture of tools intended for the cutting of different stones. Diamond enhanced carbides (DEC) are a composite material containing 30 vol of diamond particles and were produced using a mixture of submicron WC6Co (wt ). Due to PPC sintering conditions, dense sinters with a strong bond between the diamond particles and the sintered carbide matrix were obtained. The values of the specific cutting energy and the apparent friction coefficient of DEC cutter were investigated in comparison with the similar devices from PCD and ordinary tungsten carbide. DEC materials sintered in GeniCore confirmed the good market prospects for these materials in both cutting and mining applications.