Investigation and Application of Fe–Co−Cu Based Diamond Cutting Tools with Different Bronze Content Used in Marble Production

Abstract

Marble is an industrial material with a very high commercial potential in the whole world. The diamond cutting tools find vast applications in the natural stone cutting industries. The main factor judging the performance of the diamond cutting tools is their wear resistance which is primarily affected by materials/process variables and unpredictable working conditions. For a successful cutting operation, wear rates of the matrix and the diamond must be comparable. Otherwise, detachment of diamond from the matrix or embedding of diamond into the matrix may occur. In order to optimize the performance of the tool during cutting, several additives may be incorporated into the matrix. Type and amount of the additions are firstly determined by the hardness of natural stone to be cut. In this study, performances of Fe-Co-Cu based commercial powders were used to evaluate their performance as a diamond bead matrix and the effect of bronze additions on the structural and mechanical properties of matrix was investigated. All materials in the form of powders were cold pressed first and then the pellets were sintered at 960 °C for 1 h in hydrogen atmosphere of a tunnel furnace. Microstructural and mechanical characterizations were performed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), hardness, compression tests and wear test. Results showed that bronze additives had no negative effect on density of the samples. The mechanical properties and wear resistance of the samples decreased with increasing bronze content and they may become eligible for stones of different hardness.