Certain surface-active media can considerably influence the flow and fracture properties of the .solids they wet. The effects of various lubricating media on the sliding friction behaviour of diamond on soda-lime glass were studied in the present research. An experimental apparatus was constructed to slide a hemispherical diamond linearly and at constant speed across the surface of a Corning type 2947 soda-lime glass microslide and to measure the resultant friction force. Tests were conducted in a variety of liquid and gaseous media at sliding speeds ranging from 0.001 cm/sec to 0.4 cm/sec. As a base for comparison initial tests were conducted in a high vacuum — 8 at 4 x 10 ⁻⁸. The results showed that all the media enhanced material displacement from that observed in high vacuum. In addition, the friction force was observed to rise with displaced material. A simple theory was used to predict with reasonable agreement the results obtained in in vacuum and air only. The greatest increase in displaced material was observed in heptyl alcohol. Scanning electron micrographs of the friction tracks suggest that heptyl; alcohol softened the surface of the glass. This is in agreement with previous work. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

The goal for this research was to reduce the current manufacturing cost of the polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) inserts utilized in the natural gas and oil drilling industry while not reducing their current performance. Polycrystalline Diamond is added to the tungsten-carbide (WC) substrates commonly utilized in these applications because of its greater wear and thermal resistance. With the current cube cell design for the high-pressure/high-temperature apparatus, it is necessary to bond an extra WC substrate to the polycrystalline diamond insert to achieve the sizes generally ordered by the customers. The problem of bonding the extra WC substrate was solved by increasing the operating volume of the cube cell assembly and changing the heating pattern within the cell while maintaining the temperature and the pressure required for the successful diamond sintering.The new cell design was proposed and tested. The test data were captured and analyzed to prove the hypotheses. The proposed manufacturing methods resulted in reduced cost, processing time, and reduced the need for equipment and operators without diminishing the performance of the PDC insert.