SYSTEMATIC-APPROACH TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF PVD COATINGS FOR TOOL APPLICATIONS

For some years indexable tips coated by physical vapour deposition (PVD) have been tested regarding their performance characteristics. Beyond this there is great interest in PVD coatings for new applications in the field of tool technology. The variety of application conditions (principles) and the multitude of parameters complicate the establishment of PVD technologies in these fields. This paper describes a systematical approach which is useful for new developments of PVD-coated tools and has already been proven successful for various applications. Furthermore, a number of examples are presented to which this systematic approach has been applied. Besides applications in cut-machining operations, e.g. milling, drilling, turning and rasping, there are also tools applied within the areas of production die casting, forging, feeding or measuring, mostly working under extreme conditions (high temperature corrosion, thermal shack, adhesive wear and abrasion).