Industrial applications of superhard nanocomposite coatings

Recent progress in the development and industrialization of superhard and tough nanocomposite coatings, which consist of hard transition metal nitride nanocrystals "glued together" by about I monolayer of silicon nitride, is summarized and documented by selected illustrative examples. It is shown that already the presently available superhard nanocomposites applied on machining, stamping and forming tools significantly increase their lifetime and the cutting speed, and consequently also the overall productivity of the machining operations. Further improvement of the presently available and newly developed nanocomposite coatings will push the machining technology towards new horizons. Besides of the superhard nanocomposites, also medium hard, but very tough thick coatings with low internal stress applied to forming tools increase their lifetime by at least one order of magnitude. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.