Thin boron doped diamond (BDD) film is deposited from trimethyl borate/acetone/hydrogen mixture on Co-cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) micro drills by using the hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) technique. The boron peak on Raman spectrum confirms the boron incorporation in diamond film. This film is used as an interlayer for subsequent CVD of micro-crystalline diamond (MCD) film. The Rockwell indentation test shows that boron doping could effectively improve the adhesive strength on substrate of as deposited thin diamond films. Dry drilling of graphite is chosen to check the multilayer (BDD + MCD) film performance. For the sake of comparison, machining tests are also carried out under identical conditions using BDD and MCD coated micro drills with no interlayer. The wear mechanism of the tools has been identified and correlated with the criterion used to evaluate the tool life. The results show that the multilayer (BDD + MCD) coated micro drill exhibits the longest tool life. Therefore, thin BDD interlayer is proved to be a new viable alternative and a suitable option for adherent diamond coatings on micro cutting tools.
Keywords: boron doping; cutting performance; diamond film; graphite machining; interlayer; micro drill.