Diamond coated cutting tools for machining of non-ferrous metals and fibre reinforced polymers

Diamond coated cutting tools made their entry into the market already 15 years ago. In the beginning the possible application were limited to machining of graphite and hard polymers, due to the weak adhesion of the diamond coating onto the hardmetal substrates. Intensive theoretical and experimental efforts finally resulted in a significantly increased adhesion of the diamond layers. This development opened new opportunities for diamond coated tools. Now novel composite materials like AlSi alloys, fibre reinforced plastics and even Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) are machineable. In this article the requirements for a successful use of diamond coated tools will be discussed, accompanied by data from practical tests on AlSi-alloys and fibre reinforced plastics. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.