Studies have been made on a composite of VK alloy with ASM 28/20 diamo
nd powder sintered in shock waves, which has high compressive strength
and a low diamond grain damage coefficient. The wear resistance in sl
iding friction in oil and with free abrasive is over 40 times that of
VK6 hard alloy under the same conditions. The wear mechanism has been
deduced from studies on the structure and composition of the layers fo
rmed at the frictional surface.