Abstract

Effect of laser irradiation pre-treatment on adhesion strength of diamond films on WC-6wt% Co hard metal substrate was studied. Adhesion strength of diamond films on the hard metal substrate were measured by the Scraper Test, and were compared to those deposited in identical conditions but the substrate were subjected to etching in acidic solution. It was found that at a film thickness of 2-6µm, laser pre-treatment almost doubled the adhesion strength as compared to acid etching pre-treatment. Detailed SEM examinations confirmed the mechanisms suggested by the present authors in their earlier work that the improvement in adhesion strength by laser pre-treatment was due to the surface Co depletion and surface modification by the high power density laser beam.

© 1995 Optical Society of America