Study and Development of a Multilayered Coating to Improve Hard Metal Cutting Tools Performances

Abstract

The use of coated hard metal is spread in all fields of mechanical working, both forming and machining. Different hard metals are used based on their mechanical characteristic that strongly depends on composition and grain size. Substrates such as HSS and WC – Co are typically coated with PVD thin layers in applications such as metalworking and cutting; thus lot of efforts are put in researching this specific field. Coating composition, and coating architecture are paramount topics in the subsject of surface anti – wear thin films. The focus of this study is to analyze the difference between two AlTiN coatings, a monolayer and a multilayer with gradient composition, from the point of view of microstructure and adhesion. Experimental cutting tests were done to characterize the behavior of the coating in face milling of AISI 660 heat resistant alloy: varying cutting speeds from 15 to 40 m/min it was finally assessed that a multilayer coating can give higher tool life with respect to a monolayer coating of the same composition.