Tools for machining are made of hard steels and cemented carbide (WC-Co). For specialized applications, such as aluminium machining, diamond or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride are also used. The main problem with steel, isthat itexhibits a relatively low hardness (below 10 GPa) which strongly decreases upon annealing above about 600 K.Thus, the majority of modern tools are nowadays coated with hard coatings that increase the hardness, decrease the coefficient of friction and protect the tools against oxidation. A similar approach has been recently used to obtain a longer duration of the dies for aluminium die-casting.

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Nowadays, cutting tools, designed to be used for machining without lubricants, are developed to improve the high working speed capabilities. With this respect, quaternary Ti-and N-based coatings are able to significant increase hardness, wear resistance and high temperature oxidation resistance. One of the major drawbacks still consists on the limited thermal stability of such coatings, which is reported to be about 600°C. In the present study, thermal stability studies of a nanostructured multi-layered N-based (AlTiCrxN1-x) coating on a HSS 6-5-2 tool steel were carried out. Two quantities were calculated out of the hardness and elastic modulus of the coatings. One is the ratio H/E that represents the coating resistance to compression without failure; another one is H3/E2, which provides information on the specific contact pressure limit without failure. It was found that, by using the less demanding thermal cycling mode, the coating ability to plastically deform without damage, is retained up to 800-1000°C. The highest, and more effective coating plasticity index was obtained by using the less demanding cycling mode, while, the other two modes induced a continuous index decrease with temperature.