State-of-the-art and future trends for CVD-diamond coated tools for cutting operations

Dr. O. Lemmer, D. Breidt, M. Frank, Dr. T. Leyendecker

CemeCon GmbH, Adenauerstr. 20B1, D 52146 Wuerselen, Germany, www.CemeCon.com

Abstract

In the beginning of the nineties, a world-wide turnover of 450 million dollar was predicted for the year 2000 in the market " CVD diamond coated tools ". Up-to-date, these number is not reached by far. Careful estimations at present amount to only 10% of this value. The reasons for this are of various nature:

- Underestimation of the complexity in the development of CVD-diamond-coatings on cutting tools.

- The systematic exploitation of new markets for diamond coated tools was difficult and proceeded substantially slower than expected.

- The understanding, that is necessary for the successful use of CVD diamond coated tools, had to be generated and communicated to the tool manufacturer, the trade and the end users

Today the status of the development presents itself as follows: CVD diamond coated tools for cutting operations are used for machining graphite and green compacts with great success. In this area of applications these tools are considered as state-of-the-art. End users in this sector normally expect their tool manufacturer to offers CVD-diamond coated tools in his catalog.

The exploitation of these first fields of applications with economic relevance was possible by a systematic approach during the product development. A close cooperation of the tool manufacturer, the end user and the tool coater was necessary. The knowledge and the know-how in technology and strategy, that were achieved during this product development, will be transferred and adapted to other, larger sectors of the tooling market and will lead to successful, innovative CVD-diamond coated tools.

For illustration different kinds of diamond coated tools and results in the machining of different workpeice materials are presented.

Keywords:CVD diamond coatings, cutting tools, market, machining performance

Corresponding Author:

Martin Frank

CemeCon GmbH

Adenauerstr. 20B1

D 52146 Wuerselen

Germany

Fax: xx49 2405 4470 199

Tel: xx49 2405 4470 420

Martin.Frank@CemeCon.de