Wear Behavior and Machining Performance of TiAlSiN-Coated Tools Obtained by dc MS and HiPIMS: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Duplex stainless steels are being used on applications that require high corrosion resistance and excellent mechanical properties, such as the naval and oil-gas exploration industry. The components employed in these industries are usually obtained by machining; however, these alloys have low machinability when compared to conventional stainless steels, usually requiring the employment of tool coatings. In the present work, a comparative study of TiAlSiN coating performance obtained by these two techniques in the milling of duplex stainless-steel alloy LDX 2101 was carried out. These coatings were obtained by the conventional direct current magnetron sputtering (dc MS) and the novel high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). The coatings were analyzed and characterized, determining mechanical properties for both coatings, registering slightly higher mechanical properties for the HiPIMS-obtained coating. Machining tests were performed with varying cutting length and feed-rate, while maintaining constant values for axial and radial depth of cut and cutting speed. The surface roughness of the material after machining was assessed, as well as the wear sustained by each of the tool types, identifying the wear mechanisms and behavior of these tools, as well as registering the flank wear values presented for each of the tested tools. The HiPIMS-obtained coating exhibited a very similar behavior when compared to the other, producing similar surface roughness quality. However, the HiPIMS coating exhibited less wear for higher cutting lengths, proving to be a better choice in this case, especially regarding tool life.

Surface Topography of PVD Hard Coatings

“…The use of an AFM microscope is limited due to the small scan area (of about 50 µm × 50 µm) and is therefore not appropriate for the study of growth defects, because its density is rather low (a few hundred defects/mm 2 ). The most suitable method for this purpose is a 3D stylus profilometry [20]. In the scanning mode, the stylus profilometer can give a 3D image of the surface on a large scan area (from several hundreds of micrometers square to several millimeters square) with all the micrometer-sized details.…”

Wear Behavior of TiAlVN-Coated Tools in Milling Operations of INCONEL® 718

“…In the case of modification techniques, there are heat treatments, in which the chemical properties of the surface are changed [14]. Lastly, which is addressed in this work, there is the coating deposition technique, which can be deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes [15].…”

“…Within the sputtering process, a recent technique with great potential is High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) [30]. This technique allows the direction and ionization fraction of the sputtered species to be tuned, which has the advantage of producing films with differentiated properties [15]. As it is a recent technique, much needs to be studied and developed, and there is still a clear gap in information in the literature.…”

Optimization of Sustainable Production Processes in C45 Steel Machining Using a Confocal Chromatic Sensor

“…The investigation of the effect of tool wear on surface roughness increase is addressed by [47], while [48] demonstrates through research that low-temperature cooling can enhance machined surface quality while minimizing tool wear. The determination of tool wear in the machining of duplex stainless steel is presented in papers [49,50], with the issue of tool wear and surface topography also discussed in [51][52][53][54][55]. Additional researchers [56] conduct experimental investigations into factors affecting stainless steel turning and assess wear parameters on the cutting tool's face and back surface.…”