As hard coatings become more commonly used for improving the wear resi
stance of cutting tools, it is of interest to know whether fatigue res
istance is impaired. Fatigue cracking may be a significant failure mod
e in bandsaws, which are flexed over the driving pulleys. A reversed b
ending machine was used for testing specimens of bandsaw strip. It was
found that fatigue strength was raised by titanium nitride coating bu
t was reduced by chromium electroplating.