Industrial diamond materials are replacing tungsten carbide and ceramic composites in cutting tools where high surface finish quality is required. The choice of materials ranges from lower end polycrystalline diamond (PCD) to high-end single crystalline diamond (SCD). As an example, SCD tools have proven their value-add in the super-finishing of ultraprecision optical grade surfaces. In many cases, the use of PCD tool inserts can eliminate grinding operations, thereby improving machining process times. PCD tools have also shown a longer tool life.
Such materials being as hard as natural diamond, lasers are most suitable for machining them. Synova’s patented Laser MicroJet® (LMJ) technology delivers better results than conventional dry lasers and has become a benchmark in the processing of diamond materials. In this paper, results achieved in machining diamond inserts are presented. The novel LCS 305 Laser MicroJet system with 5 axes is introduced as a production-ready system to manufacture such tools.