3D gel-printing of phenolic resin-based diamond tool parts

In this study, the phenolic resin-based diamond tool parts were successfully prepared by 3D gel-printing (3DGP), the rheological properties of printing slurries and mechanical properties of the prepared resin-based diamond parts were characterizated. The results show that when the amount of phenolic resin to anhydrous ethanol was 2:1, the slurry was suitable for extrusion printing, and it was also easy to keep the shape of the printed product. When the needle size was 0.60 mm, the layer height was 0.48 mm, and the line width was 0.48 mm, the printed products had superior surface quality. For dense parts, the three-point bending strength of diamond part printed was about 27.0 MPa. The Rockwell hardness values of the dense parts prepared from the two powders were 81.0 for 1.58 μm and 85.1 for 2.61 μm, and their roughness (Ra) was about 6.99 μm and 6.15 μm, respectively. For porous parts, the bending strength of parts prepared from 1.58 μm diamond powder was from 11.8 MPa to 18.2 MPa and that of parts prepared from 2.61 μm diamond powder was from 15.5 MPa to 21.6 MPa when the porosity was 20–50%. The dense and porous resin-based diamond parts with controllable structure and porosity were successfully prepared by 3DGP, which has a promising future application in the field of abrasive materials.