Tribological Studies on Coated High Speed Cutting Tools

摘要

In this phase of the project, the research efforts at UCLA were directed towards a detailed characterization of the TiC and TiN coatings deposited by the Activated Reactive Evaporation (ARE) technique. The coatings were characterized for phases present and preferred orientation, microstructure, surface topography, hardness and adhesion. Qualitative correlation between the deposition conditions and structure/properties of these coatings were established. TiN coatings were deposited under the optimum conditions established above and were submitted for detailed characterization to Professor M. Kaminsky of Argonne National Laboratory. TiN coatings were also deposited onto carbide inserts and these were submitted to Professor Bruce Kramer of George Washington University for cutting tests evaluation. Experiments were carried out to synthesize HfN coating using the ARE technique. It was observed that the plasma conditions (as represented by the current collected on the ARE electrode) significantly affected the deposition rate. This was believed to be due to plasma scattering of the evaporating material. This was demonstrated through a series of experiments where Hf was evaporated in N sub 2 and Ar gases with and without plasma. 23 figs., 3 tabs.