PCD is Polycrystalline Diamond which is manufactured by sintering together carefully selected diamond particles.
Initially formed at very high temperatures and pressure in the presence of a solvent/catalyst metal.
The results are an extremely tough inter grown mass of randomly orientated diamond crystals. Finally, these are bonded to a tungsten carbide substrate.
This is why PCD, can therefore be regarded as a composite material.
Polycrystalline Diamond combines the hardness, abrasion resistance and high thermal conductivity of diamond; with the toughness of tungsten carbide.
Therefore, PCD tooling can replace existing cutting tool materials such as HSS or Tungsten Carbide when applied correctly.
In turn, reducing tool costs per component through extended tool life and production downtime.
We then cut the discs ourselves into a variety of shapes and sizes, for use on our tooling.
SYNDITE is the only PCD tool material manufactured in discs of up to 74mm maximum diameter. This Enables us to manufacture tools which require a long, continuous cutting edge.
SYNDITE is available in 3 standard grades – 002, 010 and 0.25 (equivalent to 2, 10 and 25 microns average diamond grain size).
Where can I use Polycrystalline Diamond or PCD Tooling?
PCD has many applications and i used on materials, such as;
Aluminium and its alloys
Copper and its alloys
Precious steels
Plastic
Graphites and graphite composites
Green ceramics and carbides
Composite materials
Carbon Fibre
Fibreglass
Ultimately, using the correct grade of Polycrystalline Diamond, ensures an excellent surface finish is achieved, on otherwise difficult to machine materials.
For more information on our incredible PCD Tooling, take a look at our PCD end mills.