Research in the field of Polycrystalline Diamond Tools

The multitude of cutting materials already in existence increased further with the appearance ofpolycrystalline diamond (PCD) some 25 years ago. Ceramic show no chemical affinity to most machiningmaterials, but are very brittle. Natural diamond, the hardest known material, is very wear resistant, but alsosensitive to impacts and difficult to shape. The main advantage brought about by the development ofpolycrystalline diamond is the partial combination of the exceptional hardness of diamond with the toughness oftungsten carbide. This paper is presenting a series of the general considerations on cutting tools which have thecutting surface made of polycrystalline diamond. There are also presented some original results concluded by theauthor, based on experiments made with the tools mentioned before, which have different design values.