LOW-PRESSURE SYNTHESIS OF POLYCRYSTALLINE DIAMOND ABRASIVE

Polycrystalline diamond abrasives are used extensively for grinding of cemented tungsten carbide. Although these diamond crystals are somewhat weaker than the well formed cubo-octahedral crystals, they are ideal for grinding cemented carbide without causing surface integrity problems (metallurgical damage and microcracking due to thermal and mechanical stresses). Polycrystalline diamond of this type is currently produced by the high-pressure-high-temperature (HP-HT) technique. In this paper, we report an alternative technique for the production of polycrystalline diamond abrasive, namely combustion synthesis, using a simple oxy-acetylene torch. Although the growth rates by this technique are currently two orders of magnitude lower than the HP-HT technique, in view of the simplicity of this technique, the low cost of equipment as well as the lower running and maintenance costs (compared to the HP-HT presses, dies, power, etc.) activated chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond synthesis has potential for becoming an alternative approach to the growth of diamond crystals for abrasive applications. The situation will be more favorable with further advances in the low-pressure, activated CVD processes, which are still in their initial stages of development (similar to the HP-HT situation in the late 1950s), while the HP-HT process is more or less a matured technology.