Quality rating of a metal matrix-diamondcomposite from its thermal conductivity and electric resistance

Abstract

The efficiency of hot-pressed diamond-containing composite materials (DCM) for various tool applications is greatly affected by microdefects, namely, the residual porosity of the metal matrix, damaged diamond grains, and imperfect diamond-matrix interfaces. An instrumental evaluation of these microdefects, predetermining the quality of a tool equipped with DCM, is rather difficult due to the small size, the nonstandard shape, and the strong heterogeneity of specimens. Proposed here is an alternative, nondestructive technique of DCM quality rating, which includes the measurement of electric resistance and thermal conductivity of diamond-containing composites and processing the obtained data by the methods of composite mechanics. It exploits the fact that diamond, being a dielectric, possesses an extremely high thermal conductivity, which allows estimating the residual porosity of a sintered metal matrix from the ratio of specific electric resistances, one being measured and another predicted by a theory. These data, in turn, are utilized to predict the thermal conductivity ofDCMwith an imperfect matrix. Matching with experiments, after solving the inverse problem gives the thermal resistance of diamond-matrix interface, which, within the frame work of the given model, simulates the damage of both the diamond grains and their bonds with the matrix. Thus, the numerical rating of quality is given in terms of two dimensionless parameters. The first one, 0 < K < 1, reflects the quality of the sintered metal matrix, whereas the second one, 0 < R <1, is an aggregate measure of the integrity of diamond grains and the perfection degree of composite interfaces. The quite satisfactory agreement observed between the theory and experiment confirms the efficiency of the technique and the reliability of the data obtained.