Thermally induced defects in a polycrystalline diamond layer on a tungsten carbide substrate

In this study we make use of laser heating of HTHP industrial diamond, to study temperature induced changes to the diamond structure, both chemically and mechanically, in the absence of mechanical forces. This has relevance to the efficacy of diamond as a hard material in such applications as rock drilling and material processing. We report on the induced defects when the diamond is irradiated with high power CO₂ and Nd:YAG lasers respectively, and show that the thermal induced stresses in the diamond are sufficient to radically alter its physical properties, resulting in critical fracture. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy indicate that the heating does not result in graphitisation of the diamond, but rather diffusion from the non-diamond base results in cobalt and tungsten oxides forming on the diamond surface. This has a deleterious effect on the diamond performance.