Direct production of nitrogen-doped diamond microtools

The paper describes the direct production of nitrogen-doped diamond micro tools. A correlation is made between the maximum principal stress induced into a single grain and the grinding ratio for a particular set of micro tools grinding a selection of copper-zinc alloys. It is concluded that magnitude of principal stress induced into the diamond grains by grinding forces acting on the rake face of the grain is the prime indicator of wear during the microgrinding process.