Negative impacts of diamond magnetism on the microstructure of co-deposited composites and the effective solution

In a paper, we reported that incorporation of diamond into composite coatings could cause microstructural deteriorations (e.g., roughening the coating surface, coarsening the matrix grain and reducing the mechanical retention of diamond grains in the matrix), and suggested that all the impacts were caused by diamond magnetism resulting from metallic inclusions trapped in it. To confirm this, further microstructural observations were conducted on composites containing diamond particles that experienced different treatments before being planted, i.e., magnetization (strengthening diamond magnetism by a strong magnet) and demagnetization (weakening diamond magnetism by an alternating magnetic field), as well as on composites fabricated in the presence of an external alternating magnetic field in the vicinity of the cathode. It is shown that advance demagnetization treatment reduces the impacts while advance diamond magnetization treatment does the opposite. Moreover, the impacts could be more effectively reduced by superimposition of the external alternating magnetic field which may exert effects not only on demagnetization of the diamond grains, but also on cations' deposition process since the external magnetic field is much stronger than that produced by diamond.