We numerically simulated and experimentally studied the interfacialcarbon diffusion between diamond tooland workpiece materials.A diffusion modelwith respect to carbon atoms of diamond toolpenetrating into chips and machined surface was established.The numericalsimulation results of the diffusion process revealthat the distribution laws of carbon atoms concentration have a close relationship with the diffusion distance,the diffusion time,and the originalcarbon concentration of the work material.In addition,diamond face cutting tests of die steels with different carbon content are conducted at different depth of cuts and feed rates to verify the previous simulation results.The micro-morphology of the chips is detected by scanning electron microscopy.Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was proposed to investigate the change in carbon content of the chips surface.The experimentalresults of this work are of benefit to a better understanding on the diffusion wear mechanism in single crystaldiamond cutting of ferrous metals.Moreover,the experimentalresults show that the diffusion wear of diamond could be reduced markedly by applying ultrasonic vibration to the cutting toolcompared with conventionalturning. We numerically simulated and experimentally studied the interfacialcarbon diffusion between diamond tooland workpiece materials. A diffusion modelwith respect to carbon atoms of diamond toolpenetrating into chips and machined surface was established. Numericalsimulation results of the diffusion process revealing the distribution laws of carbon atoms concentration have a close relationship with the diffusion distance, the diffusion time, and the original carbon concentration of the work material. In addition, diamond face cutting tests of die steels with different carbon content are conducted at different depth of cuts and feed rates to verify the previous simulation results The micro-morphology of the chips is detected by scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was proposed to investigate the change in carbon content of the chips surface. The experimental results of this work are of benefit to a better understanding on the diffusion wear mechanism in single crystaldia mond cutting of ferrous metals. Moreover, the experimental results show that the diffusion wear of diamond could be reduced markedly by applying ultrasonic vibration to the cutting toolcompared with conventionalturning.