Fabrication of high hardness microarray diamond tools by femtosecond laser ablation

Abstract The properties of machining tools limit the application of micro-texture for wear reduction and self-lubrication of workpiece in precision engineering. The CVD microarray diamond tools can satisfy abrasion resistance and high lifetime of the tool as well as fast and reliable manufacture of texture structures. In this paper, femtosecond laser is used to manufacture diamond tools with different microarray cutting edges for the flexibility of tool design and the manufacture of micro-tools without obvious edge brittle in contour. The process parameters that affect the cutting edge quality are evaluated. Laser ablation strategy plays an essential role in fabricating high quality of cutting edge and high material removal efficiency. The ‘outline paths and concentric arc paths filling’ ablation strategy can guarantee both the processing quality and material removal efficiency. The ablation speed and fluence directly affect the formation of microstructure and the requirements of different tool design characteristics can be met by changing the ablation speed and fluence. By controlling the parameters of laser ablation CVD diamond, the micro-tools with dual array for micro-cutting ductile and brittle workpiece are presented. In the subsequent micro-cutting experiments, the performance of diamond tools with dual scale microarray is analyzed. Compared with the existing single cutting edge micro-tools, microarray diamond tools have higher flexibility and efficiency in microtexture processing.