Evaluation of diamond tool wear

The present study proposes a test protocol regarding the wear of sintered diamond tools. A set of parameters, which characterise the grade of wear, and its relationship with the cutting ability of the examined tools, are established. The proposed protocol establishes the procedure and the equipment for carrying out the tests, the features of the materials to use and the format of the report to present the results obtained. The developed test protocol indicates an universally applicable way for measurement of the wear of the diamond tool. It is an indispensable instrument for correctly carrying out the wear tests and for reliably interpreting the results. The protocol developed so far mainly regards laboratory tests, considering the slowness and precision of the measurements involved. Given the total absence of norms, this protocol could be absorbed by national and international norm establishing organisations. This protocol has also been applied to two types of tools and the results obtained have appeared reliable and replicable. The test protocol proposed in this study makes it possible to overcome the difficulties connected to the scarcity of technical data regarding the properties of the tool, which is typical in this field since the recipes for tool manufacturing are patented.