SOFT PVD COATINGS - A NEW COATING FAMILY FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE CUTTINGTOOLS

The joint effort of a cutting tool manufacturer and a coating speciali st led to the development of a soft solid lubricant based cutting tool coating (Patents pending|). It is applied by an advanced sputtering t echnique as a very thin uniform coating with a good adherence to the t ools. It has a low coefficient of friction and a low affinity to alloy materials like aluminum, titanium and precious metals. These factors and others allow the machining at high spindle speed and feed rates wi th an excellent workpiece surface finish. Values can be maintained whi ch are far superior to even those permitted for cemented carbide tools . In some cases, productivity and tool life can be increased by a fact or of up to 20.