+80 Mesh Diamond Grit Products

Extending tool life

Element Six coatings range

The reasons for using coatings

Protective coatings are a technology developed by Element Six to enhance synthetic diamond retention in the bonding matrix and to protect the surface of synthetic diamond crystals in the sintering process. Improving synthetic diamond retention keeps tools working at peak efficiency and extends tool life. Protective coatings also shield the synthetic diamond during the sintering process, allowing higher temperature sintering for either better bonding metallurgy or the use of cheaper bonding materials.

Coated synthetic diamond recovered after sintering.

Uncoated synthetic diamond recovered after sintering.

How coatings work

A protective coating is chemically bonded to each synthetic diamond particle. In the sintering process this coating forms a metallurgical bond with the surrounding matrix. Element Six offers a range of coating for all bonding and sintering techniques. The use of coatings gives rise to several areas of saving and performance improvement. For example, the use of coatings can eliminate the need to use a vacuum furnace by allowing brazing to be performed in air.

Our PRECISE REQUIREMENT delivers an optimised coating and matrix match

The key to all these important benefits is the ability to create a coating that exactly complements the composition of the bonding matrix. Element Six Precise Requirement provides the know-how, the facilities and the collaborative approach to define that ideal match between coating and matrix. Precise Requirement is also a co-development policy designed to maximise cost and performance benefits for both tool manufacturers and their customers. Experience with over 50 customers shows collaboration is required to achieve optimal benefits. To deliver these benefits our testing facility works in parallel with customer in-house capability.

Advantages of enhanced synthetic diamond retention

Enhancing diamond retention yields many performance advantages. Tool life can be extended by up to 50% or cutting rates can be increased by 50% for the same tool life. In a number of instances, Element Six customers* have realised both extended life and cutting rate improvements. Using a coating may also enhance the crystal protrusion for faster, cleaner cutting. Additionally, this improved cutting performance could be used to reduce tool power consumption.

Advantages of coatings in the sintering process

At high sintering temperatures in aggressive metal bonds, the exposed surface of a synthetic diamond may be degraded by graphitisation. This can reduce the strength of the synthetic diamond particle and weaken the holding power of the matrix or bond. A protective coating prevents this graphitisation. Protective coatings enable the use of lower cost matrix materials. Materials used in a bonding matrix can account for nearly 50% of tool price. That makes raw material costs, which have been increasing year on year (see Figure 1), a major factor in cost control. So coatings help tool makers to resist the impact of escalating metal bond costs. In fact, Element Six customers* have demonstrated between 10% and 20% reduction in the cost of raw materials used for bonding and sintering.
* Please ask your Element Six representative to provide our appropriate customer case studies.

Commodity prices 2009-2011

50000 45000 40000 35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 Jan-09 Mar-09 May-09 Jul-09 Sep-09 Nov-09 Jan-10 Mar-10 May-10 Jul-10 Sep-10 Nov-10 Jan-11 Mar-11 May-11

$/tonne

Bronze

Nickel

Copper

Cobalt

Figure 1

The Active Coated Series

The active coating technology employed in the manufacturing of this coated series results in a strong chemical bond between the synthetic diamond surface and the coating. This ensures that the formation of the coating to synthetic diamond bonding is not dependent on any subsequent thermal process such as sintering. The net result is a greater freedom of choice of sintering conditions and bond composition for tool manufacture. The series comprises of five different active coatings designed to ensure compatibility across a wide range of tool applications, bond compositions and sintering conditions. SDBTC SDBTF SDBTB SDBTN SDBTZ

Bond Sintering

High copper or pre-alloyed bonds Hot pressing

Bonds with high iron, cobalt or nickel Free sintering

Infiltration / liquid phase sintering Infiltration sintering

Soft bronze bonds Hot pressing

Allows brazing of synthetic diamond in air Brazing

The Indicator System

This system ranks the products in this series in terms of relative particle strength and shape giving the toolmaker a valuable aid to grit selection.
Particle Strength
Room temp. CRYSTALLINITY

A variety of coatings available

Most protective coating solutions for customers are fine-tuned versions of the existing Elements Six coatings range. This includes coatings for hot pressing, free sintering, infiltration/liquid phase sintering, soft bronze bonds and brazing in air. Protective coatings can be applied to all grades of synthetic diamond product from Utility to Premium strength and all mesh sizes. Element Six also offer Assured Compatibility for a wide range of bond formulations and metals used for sintering synthetic diamond: SDBTC for hot pressing of pre-alloyed cobalt replacement bonds
Key: P: Premium H: High R: Regular M: Medium S: Standard G: General U: Utility

Particle Shape
Low High

P H R M S G U

SDBTF for free sintering high cobalt, nickel or iron SDBTB for infiltration sintering liquid phase bonds SDBTN for soft bronze hot pressing SDBTZ allows brazing of synthetic diamond in air

Do more with less with Element Six

Protective Coatings are just one of many innovations devised and introduced by Element Six to meet the worldwide demand for improved productivity in tool manufacturing and in the construction and stone processing industries. Together with innovations aimed at cutting production costs and developing new applications for tools, Element Six can help your business to react positively to increasingly competitive market conditions.

Tool Life Cutting Rate Test

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2 3

Blade life (sq m/min)

Up to 50% increase in cutting rate for the same life TC coated Uncoated

Find out more about Element Six products and services

visit www.e6.com Element Six Ltd.,Shannon Airport, Shannon, Co Clare, Ireland Tel: +353 61 47 1655 Fax: +353 61 47 1201 support@e6.com

4 5 Cutting Rate (m/min)

Element Six laboratory tests show dramatic increase in cutting rates using protective coatings.