One primary motivation to use coated tool inserts instead of uncoated ones
is their much-improved resistance to wear during machining, resulting in an
increase in tool life. A whole host of techniques has already been develop
ed to deposit different types of coatings onto different types of inserts.
These have yielded coated inserts with a variety of performance characteris
tics at a range of costs. In this paper, a summary is first presented of wo
rk carried out with the aim of understanding the global wear characteristic
s of cutting tools, the tools used in the investigations ranged from uncoat
ed high-speed-steel and carbide tools to selected coated inserts. From thes
e studies, it was found that machining conditions (feed rate and cutting sp
eed) played a critical role in determining the extent of wear on these cutt
ing tools, whether or not they were coated. It was also found that the exte
nt of tool wear and its relationship to the machining conditions could be r
eadily appreciated through specially constructed wear maps. It is suggested
that coated inserts could be employed in a more cost-effective manner when
the machining conditions are determined based on the wear maps developed f
or these tools. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.