Wear behavior and impact breakage characterization of PCD teeth of circular saw blades during high-speed sawing of hard aluminum alloy

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) wear is a classic issue limiting the widespread use of PCD circular saw blades, impairing the final cost and productivity. However, previous studies have rarely focused on the wear of PCD layers of saw teeth considering the vibration effect. Hence, this study aimed to elucidate the wear behavior and impact breakage characteristics of PCD teeth in sawing hard aluminum alloys. Sawing experiments were conducted, while vibration signals and force signals were captured in real-time. Then, wear morphologies of different zones of the PCD tooth were finely characterized and studied by SEM. The results suggested that the main wear types of cutting edges are abrasion, chipping, and adhesion. The abrasive wear was found on the cutting edges, side edges, rake faces, and flank faces. Interestingly, the breakage in chipping zones is mostly marked by grain spalling and cleavage fracture due to binder strength limitations. Adhesive wear occurs in wear zones by EDS analysis. A schematic of the impact wear evolution mechanism is given to explore in detail the wear morphologies of PCD layers. The wear behavior and morphological characterization of the PCD layer are finely discussed considering impact load and sawing factors (e.g., adhesive chips). This study sheds insight into the wear behavior of PCD teeth and guides the design of PCD layers.