IMPACT OF SURFACE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES ON THE PERFORMANCE AND LIFE OF MULTIPOINT CUTTING TOOLS

Advanced surface engineering technologies such as chemical vapour depo sition, sputtering and ion-implantation have shown considerable potent ial for use in a variety of industrial applications, These include a w ide range of decorative, optical, electronic, biomedical and engineeri ng products. Much of the success of surface engineering treatments hav e been in the laboratories and in products that use flat substrates su ch as nar panel displays and microelectronic devices. However, for app lications requiring samples that have complex geometrical features suc h as cutting tools and biomedical prosthesis the results of surface en gineering treatments have been rather variable and less spectacular, I n this paper pre focus on the application of surface engineering on mu lti-point cutting tools, in particular band saws and circular saws. Th e effects of substrate surface preparation, coating materials and-proc esses, and surface modifications through ion implantation are consider ed on the performance and life of multi-point cutting tools. The resul ts presented utilise a key performance parameter that has been applied to all the types of tools considered to compare the effects of each s urface engineering treatment. For the product under consideration we s how that careful substrate preparation, ion-implantation of Ar+ and N ions, coatings of TiN, TiAlN, WC, TiAlVN and the coating process have led to significant improvements in performance and life compared to u ntreated cutting edges, The trends observed may also be applied to oth er multi-point and single point cutting tools. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce S.A.