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Title: Diamond-cBN alloy: A universal cutting material

Abstract

Diamond and cubic boron nitride (cBN) as conventional superhard materials have found widespread industrial applications, but both have inherent limitations. Diamond is not suitable for high-speed cutting of ferrous materials due to its poor chemical inertness, while cBN is only about half as hard as diamond. Because of their affinity in structural lattices and covalent bonding character, diamond and cBN could form alloys that can potentially fill the performance gap. However, the idea has never been demonstrated because samples obtained in the previous studies were too small to be tested for their practical performance. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of transparent bulk diamond-cBN alloy compacts whose diameters (3 mm) are sufficiently large for them to be processed into cutting tools. The testing results show that the diamond-cBN alloy has superior chemical inertness over polycrystalline diamond and higher hardness than single crystal cBN. In conclusion, high-speed cutting tests on hardened steel and granite suggest that diamond-cBN alloy is indeed a universal cutting material.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States); Sichuan Univ., Chengdu (China)
  2. Sichuan Univ., Chengdu (China)
  3. Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
  4. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1332346
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0001982
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 107; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; diamond; III-V semiconductors; hardness; chemical bonds; materials properties

Citation Formats

Wang, Pei, He, Duanwei, Wang, Liping, Kou, Zili, Li, Yong, Xiong, Lun, Hu, Qiwei, Xu, Chao, Lei, Li, Wang, Qiming, Liu, Jing, and Zhao, Yusheng. Diamond-cBN alloy: A universal cutting material. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4929728.
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Wang, Pei, He, Duanwei, Wang, Liping, Kou, Zili, Li, Yong, Xiong, Lun, Hu, Qiwei, Xu, Chao, Lei, Li, Wang, Qiming, Liu, Jing, & Zhao, Yusheng. Diamond-cBN alloy: A universal cutting material. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4929728
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Wang, Pei, He, Duanwei, Wang, Liping, Kou, Zili, Li, Yong, Xiong, Lun, Hu, Qiwei, Xu, Chao, Lei, Li, Wang, Qiming, Liu, Jing, and Zhao, Yusheng. Tue . "Diamond-cBN alloy: A universal cutting material". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4929728. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1332346.
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@article{osti_1332346,
title = {Diamond-cBN alloy: A universal cutting material},
author = {Wang, Pei and He, Duanwei and Wang, Liping and Kou, Zili and Li, Yong and Xiong, Lun and Hu, Qiwei and Xu, Chao and Lei, Li and Wang, Qiming and Liu, Jing and Zhao, Yusheng},
abstractNote = {Diamond and cubic boron nitride (cBN) as conventional superhard materials have found widespread industrial applications, but both have inherent limitations. Diamond is not suitable for high-speed cutting of ferrous materials due to its poor chemical inertness, while cBN is only about half as hard as diamond. Because of their affinity in structural lattices and covalent bonding character, diamond and cBN could form alloys that can potentially fill the performance gap. However, the idea has never been demonstrated because samples obtained in the previous studies were too small to be tested for their practical performance. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of transparent bulk diamond-cBN alloy compacts whose diameters (3 mm) are sufficiently large for them to be processed into cutting tools. The testing results show that the diamond-cBN alloy has superior chemical inertness over polycrystalline diamond and higher hardness than single crystal cBN. In conclusion, high-speed cutting tests on hardened steel and granite suggest that diamond-cBN alloy is indeed a universal cutting material.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4929728},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 10,
volume = 107,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 08 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue Sep 08 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4929728
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Detwinning Mechanism for Nanotwinned Cubic Boron Nitride with Unprecedented Strength: A First-Principles Study
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