Tetrabond Technology
Tetrabond technology is an enhanced arc technology based on the Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) process. The enhanced arc process was developed by Ionbond and allows the deposition of extremely hard, very smooth, non-hydrogenated diamond like carbon (DLC) films.
Process Temperature
Tetrabond coatings are deposited at a temperature below 150(°) C, which means cycle times are reduced due to the fact that heating and cooling steps are not required.
Items Typically Coated
The primary items coated with Tetrabond are cutting tools used for machining non ferrous materials. Tetrabond has demonstrated excellent performance in machining aluminum, graphite, copper, PCB boards and composite materials. Tetrabond has also been successful in machining wood, plastics, epoxies and certain grades of titanium. Because Ionbond has developed a safe stripping technology, Tetrabond coatings are also suitable for tool recoating
Coatings Typically Deposited
The word Tetrabond is derived from tetrahedral amorphous carbon. Tetrabond coatings have a very high sp3 ratio, in the range of 80-90%. This sp3 bonding is typical of natural diamond. Studies have shown that sp3 fractions are directly related to film hardness. The hardness of amorphous-diamond film has been measured in the range of 70 to 90 GPa, which is about the same as that of CVD diamond film. Abrasion resistance is also comparable to that of CVD diamond film.
Coating thickness typically range from 0.4 to 1.5 microns.
The cycle time is generally around 3 hours, door to door, compared to the CVD diamond process which can run well over 8 hours for even the shortest cycle.
Advantages of the Tetrabond process:
- Tetrabond can be stripped, making it suitable for tool recoating
- Complex tool designs can be coated, including advanced chip breaker designs
- Depth of cut is not limited to the length of the diamond segment, as is the case for PCD tools
- Tetrabond is not limited to certain carbide grades
- Sharp edges are maintained
- The process is environmentally friendly
