AlTiCrNO coatings for dry cutting deposited by reactive cathodic vacuum arc evaporation

AlTiCrNO coatings were deposited by reactive vacuum arc evaporation. The coatings were deposited with different coating architectures, including monolayer and multilayer structures. Variations in microstructure (obtained by XRD), morphology (studied using SEM) and chemical composition (determined by EDS) were correlated to mechanical properties (residual stress state, microhardness). The coatings were annealed in air at temperatures of 900 °C to obtain information on their oxidation behaviour. Selected cutting results of dry cutting with cemented carbide end mills are presented. It is shown that the main influences on the cutting behaviour are the texture coefficient (200/111), residual compressive stress and morphology.