Adhesion analysis and dry machining performance of CVD diamond coatings deposited on surface modified WC–Co turning inserts

This paper investigates the effects of different surface pretreatments on the adhesion and performance of CVD diamond coated WC–Co turning inserts for the dry machining of high silicon aluminum alloys. Different interfacial characteristics between the diamond coatings and the modified WC–Co substrate were obtained by the use of two different chemical etchings and a CrN/Cr interlayer, with the aim to produce an adherent diamond coating by increasing the interlocking effect of the diamond film, and halting the catalytic effect of the cobalt present on the cemented carbide tool. A systematic study is analyzed in terms of the initial cutting tool surface modifications, the deposition and characterization of microcrystalline diamond coatings deposited by HFCVD synthesis, the estimation of the resulting diamond adhesion by Rockwell indentations and Raman spectroscopy, and finally, the evaluation of the dry machining performance of the diamond coated tools on A390 aluminum alloys. The experiments show that chemical etching methods exceed the effect of the CrN/Cr interlayer in increasing the diamond coating adhesion under dry cutting operations. This work provided new insights about optimizing the surface characteristics of cemented carbides to produce adherent diamond coatings in the dry cutting manufacturing chain of high silicon aluminum alloys.