Effect of pretreatment of substrate on synthesized diamond films on Tungsten Carbide substrate by flame combustion

A flame combustion method enables the synthesis of diamond using acetylene-oxygen gas flame combustion in ambient air. Recently, tungsten carbide (WC) has been used as cutting tools in the machining industry. To obtain diamond films and to achieve good adhesion on the WC substrate, diamond films were synthesized by flame combustion method. However, synthesized diamond films delaminate as a result of thermal stress during cooling. In this study, as a pretreatment of the substrate to prevent the delamination, a chemical processing was performed. The WC substrate was pretreated by chemical etching to roughen the surface. The substrate was etched in an ultrasonic bath using Murakami's reagent. Another processing was performed using an acid solution of hydrogen peroxide, in order to remove cobalt from the substrate surface. The pretreatment periods were varied. Moreover, the effect of the pretreatment of the substrate on synthesized diamond films by flame combustion was investigated.