R. Polini, F.Pighetti Mantini, M. Braic, M. Amar, W. Ahmed, H. Taylor, Effects of Ti- and Zr-based interlayer coatings on the hot filament chemical vapour deposition of diamond on high speed steel, Thin Solid Films,  494 (2006) 116-122

Title: Effects of Ti- and Zr-based interlayer coatings on the hot filament chemical vapour deposition of diamond on high speed steel

Abstract: The prospect of obtaining good adhesion of diamond films onto steel substrates is highly exciting because the achievement of this objective will open up applications in the cutting and drilling industry. The main emphasis in this study is the TiC interlayer which for the first time proved to be a suitable layer for diamond CVD on high speed steel (HSS). In contrast from other interlayer materials investigated here, no delamination was observed even after 3 h of CVD at 650 degrees C only when TiC was employed. Nevertheless, the increase of diamond film thickness on TiC coated HSS substrates led to the delamination of small areas in various regions of the substrate. This occurrence suggests that there was a distribution of adhesive toughness values at the diamond/TiC interface with stress development being dependent on film thickness

Key words: steel; CVD; diamond; interlayers; adhesion