Whisker behaviors and tool wear in cutting of unidirectional SiC whisker-reinforced plastic

This study concerns the cutting process of unidirectional SiC whisker-reinforced plastic composite. The effects of the grain size of the polycrystalline diamond tool and the SiC whisker orientation on the tool wear were investigated. The tool with fine grain size exhibited higher wear rates. The greatest tool wear was with the composite having longitudinal, alignment of whiskers. The cutting processes of various orientations of whiskers were observed by scanning electron microscopy at low speed using a specially designed device. Moreover, models were proposed for cutting the SiC whisker-plastic composite and for wear of sintered diamond tools.