Front Cover: YINGKOU MITOPOWDER TECHNOLGY CO. LTD
Yinkou Economic and Technical Development Zone, Liaoning, China

Yingkou Mitopowder Technology Co., Ltd as the pioneer manufacturer of micron-sized ultrafine pre-alloyed powder with hydrometallurgy, has many years of experience in powder industry. We focus on the R&D and production of matrix powder for diamond tools, deeply study the characteristics of diamond tools, satisfy the professional matrix powder demands of different customers, promote the scientific development of diamond tools industry. Mitopowder manufactures ultrafine Cobalt-free pre-alloyed powder, Cobalt-based pre-alloyed powder, Laser welding pre-alloyed powder, Free sintering pre-alloyed powder with advantages of porous morphology, high sintering activity and excellent cold pressing ability, etc.

www.mitopowder.com

10) Mitopowder, never stop pursuing excellence and making groundbreaking breakthroughs

12) Let's talk or better let's investigate about some synthetic diamonds for sintered diamond tools

16) September 5-8 2023, the 23rd edition of VITRUM will highlight the entire supply chain. The show's 40th year celebrations include the new edition of Vision Milan Glass Week

20) Use of fusion tungsten carbide in diamond drilling tool fabrication

Abstract: Fusion Tungsten Carbide (FTC), consisting of a quasi-eutectoid mixture of Di-Tungsten Carbide (W2C) and Mono-Tungsten Carbide (WC) compounds, is, after diamond and Cubic Boron Nitride (cBN), the third known material on the Hardness Scale (3000 HV). Beside this property of exception, associated with a high elastic modulus (rigidity) and high thermal stability (up to ~1500 K), it presents the advantage, comparing with other competitors, that can be obtained in a granular state, of a medium particle size similar to that of diamond used as the main component of diamond tools, making it a very favorable associated active component to diamond (in some cases, even its substitute) in these tools. It also offers the advantage that can be used in both well-known technological variants of tool fabrication - Hot Pressing (HP, at simple geometrical shapes) and sintering by infiltration of loose mixture of powders - for binder formation (SILMP, at complex spatial shapes). Intending to be a development of the previously published paper in issue 71/2018 of Diamante A&T [2], this paper is focused on the establishment of FTC structure and properties function of its carbon content - as a premise of its rational selection function of destination and required properties of tool in which will be incorporated. To facilitate this, a brief review of the main types of diamond drilling tools worldwide fabricated today is also included.

34) The 1st Forum Universo Diamante was held in Padua, Italy and was part of the 39th AIM National Conference - Italian Association of Metallurgy (21-23 September 2022)

The opening ceremony took place in the Aula Magna in the Palazzo Bo and the technical sessions at the Beato Pellegrino Complex of the University of Padua. Padua has a strong University and a significant history of education. The University was celebrating its 800th anniversary in 2022. The welcome program showed in lectures front line science and organizer did not doubt to take one of the big themes of this time to the round table discussions "Energy and raw materials". The Palazzo Bo and Aula Magna, the Great Hall "Galileo Galilei" was an inspiration for the eyes and the whole mind - definitely, an excellent start for the conference.

GENERAL CHALLENGES IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY - The forewords of the conference stated some key values of the present - ecological transition, the circular economy and sustainable mobility. Metallurgy itself, including the whole manufacturing chain from raw materials to processes and products plays an important role when aiming for better energy efficiency as well decreasing emissions of industries as well in transportation. Metallurgy creates innovative solutions for all sectors of the economy and the idea, more activity with less wear of materials in devices and tools, is a valuable goal that should be committed to. Europe is doing well with ordinary and high-tech products - all sustainable but imports most of the so called critical raw materials. Will circular economy be the ace up our sleeve in global competition? Maybe there are no other options. The role of the pioneers of research is to is to innovate for new materials and technologies developing opportunities to the competitiveness for the business. Everything comes from natural sciences - mathematics, physics, chemistry, commonly used the broad term STEM of academic disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). All these are not enough to win the global competition, we also need digital twins, especially Big data, also powerful super computers and coders for data processing. The conference showed the high-level material research as well practical connections between education and production. Hopefully Forum Universo Diamante acts also in a future in a way as a pioneer of science - thinking big, verifying the unique role, a bridge builder between research and manufacturing industries.

TOPICS - The presentations handled broadly manufacturing techniques of diamond tools (PDC, polycrystalline diamond compact), grinding and polishing tools, metal powders, innovative use of diamond cutting, new recycled raw material sources and education export. Studies of reducing or replacing traditional cobalt powder and its alloys are more than up to date. Pre-alloyed powders, cryogenic treatments and producing a triple layer Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) should be considered unquestionably among others as a state of art research. It is also very important to get an insight into the current practical experiences, how diamond tools can be used in even more efficiently in dimension stone production. In Forum Universo Diamante there was an interesting presentation about diamond cutting, applied to modifications and recycling of major steel structures. It was a great pleasure to notice the international interest in the Forum as well it was also noteworthy that many companies were presenting their R&D results partly in a cooperation with university research. Session was in the afternoon on 21 September, chairman Paolo Lubatti. Abstracts are published in the Diamante Applicazioni & Tecnologia issue 108 (2022), the articles on issues 109, 110 and 111.

36) When you say "Diamond". A warm welcome and good work to all!

Abstract: May my warm welcome reach all the participants of the session "FORUM UNIVERSO DIAMANTE", part of the 39th national AIM Metallurgy Conference. I'm confident it will be a moment of technical-scientific enrichment for all of you, thanks to the sharing of information and knowledge, and that this congress will be the beginning of a wider project aiming at developing the sectoral research through the academic support. Furthermore, I would like to thank those who have enriched and shared my experiences always willing with simplicity to confrontation and discussion, driven by a common passion that has charecterized our lives and professional profiles. This passion has a name: "INDUSTRIAL DIAMOND" and it has found satisfaction in the diamond tools sector, whose further development will not fail to offer new performance and unexpected uses. This development will continue more and more and the fixed algorithms used today in the robotic manufacturing could be replaced by new "free and intelligent" ones, able to guide machines in a correct way choosing the best solution according to the case. Even today, when we talk about Diamante, history invariably accompanies us towards the future.

38) Optimization of complex tool systems by means of multivariable functions, statistics and division of the entire process into homogenous sub components

Abstract: The stone, engineered stone and ceramic surfaces manufacturing processes involve numerous independent and dependent variables, which need to be analysed, governed and optimized. Even in case of obtaining a mathematical function which describes the whole process, by virtue of the number of variables involved, it is not possible to be sure of finding an absolute maximum or minimum (hence, absolute optimization); vice versa, using statistical sensitivity techniques such as DOE or Experimental Design, it is possible to find a local maximum or minimum. In an industrial environment, on the other hand, it is not possible to carry out a sufficiently large number of tests to lead to the optimization of the whole system. In practice, the polishing process is broken down into several sub-processes, which in turn must be singularly optimized: e.g. calibration, surface smoothing (starting from coarse roughness to almost final desired roughness), polishing (second order roughness optimization). This operation reduces the possibility of absolute optimization but allows a much rapid convergence towards an optimal solution suitable for the industrial environment.

48) "Controlled Destruction" with diamond tools applied to modifications and recycling of major steel structures

Abstract: Diamond wire sawing finds more and more application not only in the deconstruction of civil and industrial reinforced concrete structures, and for modifications of composite structures, but also in cutting operations of steel structures of pipelines, large offshore structures, naval structures, submarines, metallurgical structures, aircraft, and nuclear decommissioning. We will analyze various application experiences, comparing sawing and processing systems.

61) New triple-layer polycrystalline diamond compact

Abstract: The objective of this research was to obtain a triple layer Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) via the High-pressure High-temperature (HPHT) sintering method. A thin layer of WC with 20 wt.% Nb/Ni was used as an interface between the top layer of Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) with pure Nb binder and WC 10 wt.% Co substrate. Sintering was performed at 1750°C under 7.7 GPa of pressure. Microhardness variation was measured and microstructural /structural studies were done via SEM/EDS. The overall results showed that this new kind of PDC can be produced successfully using pure niobium as a binder for the PDC layer and no sign of graphitization was detected. It was also found that using an interface having the resemblance to both substrate and sintered diamond body caused good adhesion between layers that can result in enhanced performance and improving the durability of PDC.

78) Marmomac 2022: 47,000 operators from 132 countries attended the event at Veronafiere (+49% over 2021)