Diamond-ceramics composites—New materials for a wide range of challenging applications

Materials with enhanced wear resistance are of great interest for modern industry. The different ways of producing superhard ceramic materials are shortly reviewed. In detail, the preparation of diamond–silicon carbide composites by reactive infiltration of diamond preforms with liquid silicon at ambient pressure is investigated. In addition to homogeneous SiC/diamond materials with nearly 50 vol.% of diamond layered composites were also prepared. The microstructures of the materials prepared under different infiltration conditions were analyzed using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and Raman spectroscopy. The properties of the materials depend strongly on the formation of graphite interlayers at the boundary between SiC and diamond. Hardness of 47 GPa was reached for materials where the formation of the interlayer was prevented.