SBIR Phase I: Improving the Adhesion of Nanocarystalline Diamond Films to Tungsten Carbide Micro End Mills

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在提高纳米晶金刚石涂层对微型碳化钨刀具的附着力。纳米金刚石涂层已被证明可以显著改善微型端米尔斯的加工性能。 然而，标准的金刚石生长方法导致弱化的工具材料和涂层遭受过早分层，导致工具失效。纳米晶金刚石涂层的附着力的改善将通过实施一种新的表面处理技术来实现，该技术消除了削弱工具材料的酸蚀刻的需要，以及不与工具非常牢固地结合的纳米金刚石颗粒的播种。将进行机械加工试验，以量化刀具寿命的改善，因此涂层附着力，与新的表面处理技术。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是提供一种新的表面制备技术的潜力，该技术可以与标准化学气相沉积系统集成，以实现工业应用的高产量和更经济的金刚石涂层。需要金刚石涂覆的微型端部米尔斯来改善加工性能，并且能够从否则不可加工的材料加工产品。只有当金刚石涂层足够薄而不会显著改变刀具几何形状并且牢固地粘附在基体上时，才能实现通过金刚石涂层改善微型端米尔斯的切削性能。该项目的目标是通过开发用于微型工具的厚度小于100纳米的连续金刚石涂层和防止涂层过早分层的方法来解决这些挑战。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to improve the adhesion of nanocrystalline diamond coatings to micro-scale tungsten carbide cutting tools. Nanocrystalline diamond coatings have been shown to dramatically improve the machining performance of micro end mills. However, standard diamond growth methods result in weakened tool material and the coatings suffer from premature delamination, resulting in tool failure. The improved adhesion of the nanocrystalline diamond coatings will be achieved by implementing a new surface preparation technique that eliminates the need of acid etching which weakens the tool material, and seeding of nano-diamond particles which do not bond very strongly with the tool. Machining tests will be conducted to quantify the improvement in tool life, hence coating adhesion, with the new surface preparation technique. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide a new surface preparation technique that can be integrated with standard chemical vapor deposition systems to allow for high throughput and more economical diamond coatings for industrial applications. Diamond coated micro end mills are in demand to improve machining performance and enable the machining of products from otherwise un-machinable materials. The improved cutting performance of micro end mills by diamond coatings can only be realized if it is thin enough to not significantly alter the tool geometry and it strongly adheres to the substrate. The objective of this project is to address these challenges by developing continuous diamond coatings less than 100 nanometers thick for micro tools and a method to prevent premature coating delamination.