A new method is presented for coating 300 ?m diameter tungsten carbide (WC) micro end mills with diamond using a hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HF-CVD) method. This method has been developed to create uniform, conformal and continuous diamond coatings. Initial work is shown to prove the feasibility and concept of the project. This was the first work known to coat and evaluate the machining performance WC micro end mills. The performance of uncoated and coated micro end mills was evaluated by dry machining channels in 6061-T6 aluminum. The test results showed a 75% and 90% decrease in both cutting and trust forces for machining, respectfully. The coated tools produced a more predictable surface finish with no burring. These improved results are due to the superior tribological properties of diamond against aluminum. Initial results indicated severe problems with coating delamination causing complete tool failure.

After proving the initial concept, new methods for optimizing the coating and improving performance were studied. Each optimization step is monitored through surface analysis techniques to monitor changes in coating morphology and diamond quality. Nucleation density was increased by improving the seed method, using ultra dispersed diamond (UDD) seed. The increase in nucleation density allowed the synthesis of coatings as thin as 60 nm. The adhesion of the coating to the tool was improved through carbon ion implantation (CII). CII is a different surface preparation technique that deactivates the effect of Co, while not weakening the tool. CII also creates a great nucleation layer which diamond can directly grow from, allowing the diamond coating to chemically bond to the substrate improving adhesion and eliminating the need for a seed layer. These thin coatings were shown to be of high quality sp3 trigonaly bonded diamond that resulted in lower machining forces with less delamination.

The 90% reduction in machining forces that thin conformal diamond coatings can achieve for micro end mills directly influences the accuracy of parts and the speed with which they can be made. A 50% reduction in forces could be used to double the material removal rate, cutting the part machining cost in half.