Tool coatings can improve the machinability performance of difficult-to-cut materials such as titanium alloys. Therefore, in the current work, high-speed milling of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy was carried out to determine the performance of various coated cutting tools. Five types of coated carbide inserts – monolayer TiCN, AlTiN, TiAlN and two layers TiCN + TiN and AlTiN + TiN, which were deposited by physical vapour deposition – were employed in the experiments. Tool wear, cutting force, surface roughness and chip morphology were evaluated and compared for different coated tools. To understand the tool wear modes and mechanisms, detailed scanning electron microscope analysis combined with energy dispersive X-ray of the worn inserts were conducted. Abrasion, adhesion, chipping and mechanical crack on flank face and coating delamination, adhesion and crater wear on rake face were observed during high-speed milling of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. In terms of tool wear, the lowest value was obtained with TiCN-coated insert. It was also found that at the beginning of the machining pass TiAlN-coated insert and at the end of machining TiCN-coated insert gave the lowest cutting force and surface roughness values. No change in chip morphology was observed with different coated inserts.
