Wear and Fatigue Behavior of PVD and MTCVD TiCN Coated Cemented Carbide Inserts in Turning Cast Iron

TiCN coatings of the same chemical compositions were deposited on HW/K05-K20 cemented carbide inserts via physical (PVD) and medium temperature chemical vapor deposition (MTCVD) techniques. Nano-indentations coupled with appropriate FEM simulations were used for characterizing the film and substrate mechanical properties. Furthermore, uncoated cemented carbide substrates were annealed in vacuum at temperatures and durations corresponding to the related ones during the PVD and MTCVD process for recording the effect of the deposition temperature and duration on the substrate strength properties. Perpendicular and inclined impact tests at various loads were performed for checking the coating fatigue endurance and adhesion respectively. These material data were considered in FEM supported calculations for predicting the developed stress fields in the cutting edge during turning cast iron GG30 using the PVD and MTCVD TiCN coated inserts. According to the obtained result, both coatings possess the same stress-strain properties. Hereupon, the MTCVD coatings are characterized comparably to PVD ones by improved fatigue properties and adhesion strength. Although these properties contribute to an increased tool life in finishing turning, the significant reduction of the substrate strength properties, due to the elevated temperature during the MTCVD process, results in a premature coating failure and a consequent intensive wear evolution in roughing.

Improvement of the Interfacial Fatigue Strength and Milling Behavior of Diamond Coated Tools via Appropriate Annealing

This article deals with the potential to reduce the amount of the residual stresses in the diamond films on cemented carbide inserts for improving their effective interfacial fatigue strength and thus their wear resistance. In this context, nano-crystalline diamond coatings (NCD) were deposited on cemented carbide inserts. A portion of these coated tools were annealed in vacuum for decreasing the amount of residual stresses in the film structure. The annealing temperature was appropriately selected for keeping the substrate strength properties invariable after the coating annealing. Inclined impact tests at ambient temperature on the untreated and heat-treated diamond coated tools were conducted for evaluating their effective interfacial fatigue strength. Depending upon the impact load, after a certain number of impacts, damages in the film-substrate interface develop, resulting in coating detachment and lifting. Via appropriate FEM (Finite Element Method)-evaluation of the impact imprints, the residual stresses in the diamond film structure were determined. Milling experiments were conducted for evaluating the cutting performance of the coated tools using aluminum foam as workpiece material. A correlation between the interfacial fatigue strength of diamond coatings and their residual stresses affected by annealings contributed to the explanation of the attained cutting results.

Surface roughness characterization of stainless steel after laser assisted machining

The paper presents the analysis of the influence of laser assisted machining (LAM) on various parameters of surface roughness of stainless steel. The tests were carried out for cemented carbide inserts with varying cutting parameters. In most cases, a significant reduction in the roughness parameters was observed using LAM.