SUPERHARD MATERIALS IN MECHANICAL-ENGINEERING

The main trends in scientific studies on the production of superhard materials have been identified and defined. Amongst these are the development of new and highly efficient synthesis methods, the production of automatic equipment for synthesizing diamonds and cubic boron nitride, an extension to the materials range and improvements to their physicomechanical properties. The results obtained enable urgent technological problems in mechanical engineering to be solved. In particular, 3 mm single crystal synthetic diamonds can be produced for superprecision machining, as a substitute for poor efficiency grinding, and manual finishing using superhard materials as the tool blade, machining of new high strength and heat resistant ceramic materials, numerically controlled computer equipment, automatic lines and machine shops with highly efficient and accurate abrasive and blade tools. Some materials used in modern mechanical engineering are described and the results of studies in the field of superhard material tool manufacture are presented. The importance of tribological methods for improving the reliability, durability and efficiency of machines and mechanisms is emphasized.