Percent Reduction in Transverse Rupture Strength of Metal Matrix Diamond Segments Analysed via Discrete-Element Simulations

• Published in: Materials Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 1048
• Main Authors: Chen, Xiuyu, Huang, Guoqin, Tan, Yuanqiang, Yu, Yiqing, Guo, Hua, Xu, Xipeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.06.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Bond strength; Bonding; bonding strength; Creep rupture strength; diamond segment; Diamonds; Discrete element method; discrete-element model; Engineering research; Grain; Grain size distribution; Granular materials; Materials selection; metal matrix; Reduction; Retention; Segments; Shear tests; Silicon nitride; transverse rupture strength; United States > US; China; bonding strength; diamond segment; metal matrix; discrete-element model; transverse rupture strength
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma11061048

The percent TRS reduction, D , which is the percent reduction of the transverse rupture strength of metal matrix diamond segments with or without diamonds, is a key metric for evaluating the bonding condition of diamonds in a matrix. In this work, we build, calibrate, and verify a discrete-element simulation of a metal matrix diamond segment to obtain D for diamond segments with various diamond-grain sizes, concentrations, and distributions. The results indicate that D increases with increasing diamond-grain concentration and decreases with increasing diamond-grain size. Both factors can be explained by the total diamond contact length, the increase of which causes the increase in D . The distribution of diamond grains in segments also strongly influences the increase of D . The use of D as a metric to assess the bonding condition of diamonds in matrixes is not valid unless the diamond-grain size, concentration, and distribution and total diamond contact length are the same for all diamond segments under consideration.