REINFORCEMENT OF MATERIAL BASED ON THE CUBIC BORON NITRIDE BY THE HELP OF SILICON CARBIDE WHISKERS

Abstract

Superhard materials – well-known group of materials for metal cutting. These materials are more effective, energy saving and more environmental friendliness compared to traditional tools.. Superhard materials have not only highest level of hardness (hardness of diamond- 80–100 GPa, hardness of cBN – 40 GPa), but they have also excellent mechanical, thermal, optical, acoustic, electrical and chemical properties. Unfortunately, these cutting materials also have some disadvantages, like a tendency to oxidation, graphitization and unsatisfactory level of fracture toughness.. One of the well-known ways of improving fracture toughness and tool life is the use of whisker-reinforcement. Whisker-reinforcement was widely used for other groups of cutting materials, but nowadays literature data doesn’t have any information about whisker-reinforcement of cBN-based materials. Hence, in this work this principle of reinforcement was used for novel superhard material based on cBN, TaN and Al due to the addition of silicon carbide whiskers