Analysis and Evaluation of Natural Diamond Cut by Water Jet - Guided Laser

摘要

Natural diamond can be cut and grinded for manufacturing the super-hard tool in the field of ultra-precision machining. But the natural diamond cutting technology with high precision and high quality is still a challenge. The idea that laser cutting method combined with the other technologies provides a new try for natural diamond cutting. In this paper, water jet-guided laser (WJL) is used to cut the natural diamond along the crystal plane (111) for the diamond tool manufacture, and the cutting surfaces are observed by using optical microscope, optical profiler and X-ray diffractometer to analyze the difference between the two cutting methods of laser and WJL. From the analyzed result of the morphology, roughness, phase composition and residential stress of the separated diamond surfaces, it is concluded that WJL is superior to the traditional laser cutting method, though its cutting process parameter should be further optimized for a better result.