Research status and prospect of additive manufacturing diamond tools

Abstract

In recent years, diamond tools are developing in new directions such as complex shape, precise structure and high-end performance. However, limited by the forming principle, it is difficult to meet the above requirements through conventional manufacturing processes. Therefore, there is an urgent need to seek new methods. As an emerging manufacturing technology, additive manufacturing technology has been applied to the manufacture of diamond tools with complex structures in recent years owing to its characteristics of turning three-dimensional manufacturing into two-dimensional manufacturing. This paper reviews the research progress of the current mainstream means to fabricate diamond tools through additive manufacturing processes, such as selective laser melting, selective laser sintering and stereo lithography appearance. The forming principles of the three methods are introduced in detail, focusing on the interface combination of diamond and matrix material under different processes. At the same time, the differences of the three additive manufacturing methods for forming diamond tools are briefly compared. Finally, the future research priorities are prospected and some suggestions are put forward.

Keywords

• additive manufacturing
• diamond tools
• matrix material
• interface combination