Due to its diamond content, DLC has many excellent properties: high hardness -60GPa or Hv6000 or higher; low friction coefficient -0.06; excellent film density; good chemical stability and good optical properties. The special properties of DLC coatings applied to tools far exceed those of other hard coatings. The main applications of DLC coated tools include: graphite cutting, cutting of various non-ferrous metals (such as aluminum alloys, copper alloys, etc.), cutting of non-metallic hard materials (such as acrylic, fiberglass, PCB materials).
The DLC series coatings developed by Star Arc Coating for different applications on the tool are suitable for specific applications such as drills, milling cutters, taps, inserts and various forming knives.
In aluminum alloy cutting applications, due to the viscosity of the aluminum material, material adhesion occurs quickly on the cutting surface of the tool, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the processed surface. For the tool itself, the temperature rises sharply due to the accumulation of the metal being cut on its surface, which eventually causes the tool to fail quickly. Comparative tests show that the coated star-arc DLC coated blade largely solves the problem of aluminum adhesion, ensuring that the processed surface of the workpiece is always of high quality and the tool life is greatly improved. In addition, due to the above characteristics of the DLC coated tool, the user can also increase the processing speed, thereby greatly improving the processing efficiency (about 25% to 40%). The successful application of the star arc DLC coating on the tool provides a good solution for the aluminum alloy processing industry, especially the automotive industry.
Similar application results are also reflected in the cutting performance of acrylic materials. Non-metallic materials such as acrylic have high hardness and low melting point compared with metallic materials. Tools that are not coated (or coated with other hard coatings, such as TiN, TiAlN, etc.) are poorly stenciled during the cutting process due to the melting or semi-melting of the material during the cutting process, which ultimately results in the tool being effective. The surface quality of the processed material cannot meet the quality defects such as requirements. Acrylic cutting tools coated with a star arc DLC can solve the above problems well. The star arc DLC not only has high hardness (Hv3500), but also has a very low friction coefficient (~0.08), which makes the tool greatly reduce the heat generated by friction during the cutting process, and enhances the cutting performance, thus making the tool The average service life is increased by 3 times, and the quality of the processed acrylic surface is much better than that of uncoated or other coated tools.
Graphite processing is different from the processing of other metal materials. Due to the high hardness of the graphite material, the powder layer produced after processing has strong wear properties, so none of the hard coatings commonly used in the market can solve this problem. The main reasons include: the common coating (such as TiAlN, TiN, etc.) has a high coefficient of friction, and the heat generated during the process is a fast failure of the tool. Second, the coating chemically reacts with the carbon of the graphite itself to form carbides that destroy the structure of the coating material and render it ineffective. The actual use data shows that the hard alloy milling cutter using the star arc DLC can increase the service life by 4 times, which is especially prominent in props with a diameter of less than 10 mm.
With the increasing application market for DLC coated tools and the development of various DLC subdivision processes for star-arc coatings for different applications, this emerging coating will be adopted by more users and industries in the near future.
Application of Star Arc Diamond-like DLC Coating on Cutting Tools
Diamond like carbon (DLC) is a coating that contains a diamond component on its microstructure. The element constituting the DLC is carbon. The different combination of carbon atoms and carbon atoms makes them eventually produce different substances: diamond-carbon carbon is bound in the form of sp3; diamond-like (DLC)-carbon carbon is combined in the form of sp3 and sp2 Graphite - Carbon carbon is combined in the form of sp2.