Study on wear of diamond during scratching SiC using molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to investigate the wear mechanisms of diamond probe scratching 3C-SiC substrate. The number of worn atoms, the number of atoms in contact with the substrate, the friction force and normal force all increased significantly with the increase of the scratching depth. It is also found that as the scratching depth increased, the high stress region gradually shifted from the bottom to the rear end of the probe, indicating the risk of probe failure changing from gradual wear to fracture. Moreover, the SiC substrate undergone high temperature, high compressive stress and structural transformation in the wear process. We also found that only single atoms or atomic clusters are detached from the tip under the attractive interaction, indicating the occurrence of atomic attrition. The insights gained can shed light on the wear mechanism of diamond tool in machining SiC and provide a theoretical reference for controlling diamond tool wear in ultra-precision machining.