Whisker-Reinforced Ceramics: To improve toughness, Greenleaf Corp. has reinforced alumina ceramics with silicon carbide single-crystal “whiskers” that impart a distinctive green color to the material, marketed as WG300. Typically as thin as human hairs, the immensely strong whiskers improve tool life under arduous conditions. Whisker-reinforced ceramics and perhaps hard-metals are likely to become increasingly important as cutting and wear-resistant materials. Their only drawback seems to be the carcinogenic nature of the included fibers, which requires stringent precautions during manufacture.

CVD and PCD: CVD is known Chemically Vapor-Deposited Diamond and PCD is known polycrystalline diamond. This is a new tool material offering performance characteristics well suited to highly abrasive or corrosive materials, and hard-to-machine composites. CVD diamond is available in two forms: thick-film tools, which are fabricated by brazing CVD diamond tips, approximately 0.020 inch (0.5 mm) thick, to carbide substrates; and thin-film tools, having a pure diamond coating over the rake and flank surfaces of a ceramic or carbide substrate. CVD is pure diamond, made at low temperatures and pressures, with no metallic binder phase. This diamond purity gives CVD diamond tools extreme hardness, high abrasion resistance, low friction, high thermal conductivity, and chemical inertness. CVD tools are generally used as direct replacements for PCD (polycrystalline diamond) tools, primarily in finishing, semi-finishing, and continuous turning applications of extremely wear-intensive materials. The small grain size of CVD diamond (ranging from less than 1 μm to 50 μm) yields superior surface finishes compared with PCD, and the higher thermal conductivity and better thermal and chemical stability of pure diamond allow CVD tools to operate at faster speeds without generating harmful levels of heat. The extreme hardness of CVD tools may also result in significantly longer tool life. CVD diamond cutting tools are recommended for the following materials: aluminum and other ductile; nonferrous alloys such as copper, brass, and bronze; and highly abrasive composite materials such as graphite, carbon-carbon, carbon-filled phenolic, fiberglass, and honeycomb materials.

Rule of Thumb For PVD verses CVD

Cutting Tool Material for Super-hard Materials:

A-) PCBN: Polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) and Polycrystalline synthetic diamond (PCD) are almost the only cutting-insert materials in the “super-hard” category. Both PCD and PCBN are usually made with the highest practicable concentration of the hard constituent, although ceramic or metallic binders can be almost equally important in providing overall strength and optimizing other properties. Variations in grain size are another critical factor in determining cutting characteristics and edge stability. Some manufacturers treat CBN in similar fashion to tungsten carbide, varying the composition and amount of binder within exceptionally wide limits to influence the physical and mechanical properties of the sintered compact. In comparing these materials, Manufacturer should note that some inserts comprise solid polycrystalline diamond or CBN and are double-sized to provide twice the number of cutting edges. Others consist of a layer, from 0.020 to 0.040 in. (0.5 to 1 mm) thick, on a tough carbide backing. A third type is produced with a solid super-hard material almost surrounded by sintered carbide. A fourth type, used mainly for cutting inserts, comprises solid hard metal with a tiny super-hard insert at one or more (usually only one) cutting corners or edges. Super-hard cutting inserts are expensive but their outstanding properties, exceptional performance and extremely long life can make them by far the most cost-effective for certain applications. Super-hard cutting inserts are up to 30 times the cost of equivalent shapes or sizes in ceramic or cemented carbide.

B-) CBN: CBN is known as Cubic Boron Nitride. CBN is next to diamond, CBN is the hardest known material. It will retain its hardness at a temperature of 1800 ℉ and higher, making it an ideal cutting tool material for machining very hard and tough materials at cutting speeds beyond those possible with other cutting tool materials. Indexable inserts and cutting tool blanks made from this material consist of a layer, approximately 0.020 inch thick, of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride firmly bonded to the top of a cemented carbide substrate. Cubic boron nitride is recommended for rough and finish turning hardened plain carbon and alloy steels, hardened tool steels, hard cast irons, all hardness grades of gray cast iron, and super-alloys. As a class, the super-alloys are not as hard as hardened steel; however, their combination of high strength and tendency to deform plastically under the pressure of the cut, or gumminess, places them in the class of hard-to-machine materials. Conventional materials that can be readily machined with other cutting tool materials should not be machined with cubic boron nitride. Round indexable CBN inserts are recommended when taking severe cuts in order to provide maximum strength to the insert. When using square or triangular inserts, a large lead angle should be used, normally 15°, and whenever possible, 45°. A negative rake angle should always be used, which for most applications is negative 5°. The relief angle should be 5° to 9°. Although cubic boron nitride cutting tools can be used without a coolant, flooding the tool with a water-soluble type coolant is recommended.

The Limitation of Polycrystalline Diamond:

Polycrystalline diamond cannot be used to machine steel or any other ferrous material without rapid chemical breakdown. Boron nitride does not have this limitation. Normally soft and slippery like graphite, the soft hexagonal crystals (HBN) become cubic boron nitride (CBN) when subjected to ultrahigh pressures and temperatures, with a structure similar to and hardness second only to diamond. As a solid insert of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN), the compound machines even the hardest steel with relative immunity from chemical breakdown or cratering. Backed by sintered carbide, inserts of PCBN can readily be brazed, increasing the usefulness of the material and the range of tooling in which it can be used. With great hardness and abrasion resistance, coupled with extreme chemical stability when in contact with ferrous alloys at high temperatures, PCBN has the ability to machine both steels and cast irons at high speeds for long operating cycles. Only its currently high cost in relation to hard-metals prevents its wider use in mass-production machining. Similar in general properties to PCBN, the recently developed “Wurbon” consists of a mixture of ultrafine (0.02 μm grain size) hexagonal and cubic boron nitride with a “wurtzite” structure, and is produced from soft hexagonal boron nitride in a microsecond by an explosive shock-wave.