Morphological features of W- and Ni-containing coatings on diamond crystals and properties of diamond-copper composites obtained by Spark Plasma Sintering

In the present study, W- and Ni-containing coatings on diamond crystals were obtained by rotary chemical vapor deposition (RCVD) using tungsten carbonyl W(CO) 6 and nickelocene Ni(C 5 H 5 ) 2 as precursors. Morphological features of the coatings deposited under different processing conditions were investigated. For obtaining bulk diamond-copper composites, mixtures of the coated and uncoated diamond crystals with a copper powder were subjected to Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). The effects of the presence of the coatings on the diamond crystals and the size of the initial diamond particles on the microstructure, relative density and thermal conductivity of the consolidated diamond-copper composites were investigated.