Hot-filament chemical vapour deposition of diamond on nickel based super alloy (CMSX-4) for the development of advanced cutting tools

Nickel based super alloys are traditionally used for high temperature applications such as aircraft engines and gas turbines etc. In the present study, we have investigated a new application of Nickel based super alloy (CMSX-4) as a substrate for advanced cutting tools. Super hard microcrystalline diamond films were deposited by hot- filament chemical vapour deposition (HFCVD) on single crystal CMSX-4 substrates by using silicon carbide (SiC) interlayer. Sand blasting adhesion tests were performed to test the diamond film adhesion. CMSX-4 contains many alloying elements which could from intermetallics or other non equilibrium phases (brittle phases) due to the coating experiments in order to investigate possible changes in microstructure or composition.