CVD in Cutting-Tool Applications

Coatings play a vital part in the cutting-tool industry and this is where CVD technology has made some of its most important gains. As an example, CVD films of titanium carbide on cemented carbide tools were first commercialized in the early 1960s and their use has continuously increased ever since. Today, the percentage of tools that are coated by either PVD or CVD depends on the type of tool as shown in Table 18.1 (in 1996). 

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Both CVD and PVD are used extensively in the production of coatings for cutting-tool applications. The PVD processes include mag-... 

The extreme hardness of diamond, combined with wear resistance, makes it an attractive material for use in cutting tools for machining nonferrous metals and abrasives. Indeed, HPHT industrial diamond is in use in this area since the 1960s. It is obvious, NC diamond primarily tried to use for the same purposes. NDs produced by milling of HPHT microcrystalline diamonds have been used as an ordinary abrasive material. A new application of ND with photoluminescent NV centers is the use as a biomarker. " In contrast to advanced ND production, NDs synthesized by laser methods are only starting to make their first steps from laboratories to industry." The modem applications of the ND have been discussed in several recently published reviews on CVD films (see, e.g.. Ref. 149 and detonation NDs ). Considering comprehensive reviews mentioned before, we would like to concentrate here only on main directions of several important points of NC diamond. 

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has grown very rapidly in the last twenty years and applications of this fabrication process are now key elements in many industrial products, such as semiconductors, optoelectronics, optics, cutting tools, refractory fibers, filters and many others. CVD is no longer a laboratory curiosity but a maj or technology on par with other maj or technological disciplines such as electrodeposition, powder metallurgy, or conventional ceramic processing. 

Two maj or areas of application of CVD have rapidly developed in the last twenty years or so, namely in the semiconductor industry and in the so-called metallurgical-coating industry which includes cutting-tool fabrication. CVD technology isparticularly important in the production of semiconductors and related electronic components. Itisby far the most... 

Tungsten carbide is a major industrial material used extensively in cemented carbides for cutting tools. Its main CVD applications are as follows ... 

The nitrides reviewed here are those which are commonly produced by CVD. They are similar in many respects to the carbides reviewed in Ch. 9. They are hard and wear-resistant and have high melting points and good chemical resistance. They include several of the refractory-metal (interstitial) nitrides and three covalent nitrides those of aluminum, boron, and silicon. Most are important industrial materials and have a number of major applications in cutting and grinding tools, wear surfaces, semiconductors, and others. Their development is proceeding at a rapid pace and CVD is a major factor in their growth. 

Whiskers are short fibers, usually a single crystal with an aspect ratio of 10/1 or greater. They have high strength but are difficult to process. Their applications so far has been limited SiC whiskers are reported as random reinforcement for ceramics and in alumina cutting tools. CVD is a common production method.O Beside SiC, the following whiskers have recently been produced by CVD ... 

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