Finite element analysis and experimental verification of residual stress in brazed diamond with Ni-Cr filler alloy

Residual stress is the main factor affecting the processing performance and service life of brazed diamond tools. Due to the high melting point of Ni-Cr filler alloy, the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between diamond and brazing layer is large during high brazing temperature, and excessive residual stress tends to be generated at the brazed joint. The existing process parameters are difficult to meet the demand for the lower residual stress under high brazing temperature. Suppressing effectively excessive residual stress has become the focus of current researches for process optimization of brazed diamond. In this paper, the conventional spherical finite element model of diamond is replaced by a six-octahedral finite element model of diamond, and a 3D finite element model of brazed diamond is established. The effects of brazing temperature, brazing layer thickness and holding time on the residual stresses in brazed diamond are analyzed. The results show that higher brazing temperatures result in larger differences in thermal expansion coefficients between the diamond and brazing layer, resulting in larger residual stress. The higher brazing layer thickness will enlarge the stress affected area inside diamond and thus generate higher stress. The residual stress decreases with rising holding time, however, the subsequent thermal damage to the diamond increases. Experimental measured tendency of residual stress for brazed diamond through Raman spectroscopy is well consistent with that of calculated results. After observing of the surface morphology for brazed diamond through super-depth of field microscope, the brazed diamond presents the low residual stress, weak graphitization and excellent processing performance at the condition of brazing temperature of 1010 °C, brazing layer thickness of 0.3 mm and holding time of 5 min.