The brazing of diamond

When the braze melts, the carbide formers tend to migrate toward diamond to form carbide at the interface. This reaction may be excessive as to degrade diamond's integrity. In this case, a pre-coating of diamond may be needed to moderate the reactivity between diamond and braze. When diamond is brazed on the surface of a substrate, the melt tends to pull the grits closer together that may thicken the braze layer locally. The clustering of grits can reduce the cutting effectiveness of the diamond tool. A diamond grid design is necessary to maintain the uniform thickness of the braze layer. Moreover, the controlled melting of braze alloy can form a gentle slope around each diamond grit. Such a massive support can allow aggressive cutting of the diamond tool with a low power consumption. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.