Abstract
Diamond is known to be the hardest material on the earth. Thus, it shows a superb anti-wear capability when used as a tool material for cutting almost all work materials except ferrous ones. This is because in the case of ferrous work materials diamond can be decomposed and diffused very easily into the work materials because of the cutting heat generated when diamond contacts ferrous work materials. To solve this problem and fully utilize the hardness of diamond even for ferrous work materials we have attempted to utilize the effects of ultrasonic vibration applied vertically to the rotating shaft of an end milling tool so as to increase the lubricity and/or cooling capability of the diamond tool and thereby reduce the involved temperature over the rake face of the tool cutting edge. By this means it was unexpectedly found that the life of a sintered diamond end mill tool used to cut hard ferrous materials could be more than ten times that of a WC-Co alloy tool coated with TiAlN which is believed to be the best coating material at present for cutting hard ferrous work materials.
