| Abstract |
The machinability of austenitic stainless steels is, in general, considered to be a difficult process. This is due in great part to the high plasticity and tendency to work-harden of the workpiece, which normally results in extreme conditions imposed on cutting edges. Additionally, austenitic stainless steels have much lower thermal conductivities in comparison to plain carbon and tool steels; this inflicts high thermal loads within the chip-tool contact zone, which can significantly increase the wear rate. The complex machining of austenitic stainless steels can be, in part, relieved by use of a hard coating with low thermal conductivity and an adequate coating surface quality. This can lead to a low friction coefficient between the parts and an improved chip evacuation process. In this study, stainless steel plates were machined using a high speed finishing process and cemented carbide tools coated with four high aluminum containing coatings namely, AlCrN, AlCrNbN, fine grained (fg) AlTiN, and nanocrystalline (nc) AITiN. Both AlTiN and AlCrN-based coatings are known for their high oxidation resistances and the formation of aluminum oxide surface layers during oxidation [1]. The coating surface textures before and after post-deposition treatment were analyzed by means of the Abbot-Firestone ratio curves in order to study the influence of surface configurations leading to reduced tool wear. A maximum tool life of 150 m was observed for the tool coated with the nc-AlTiN coating. © 2005 Materials Research Society. |
Gestionar cookies