The coating effect of coated carbide end mills

The coating effect of coated carbide end mills is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1. Reduce wear: The coating forms a chemical and thermal barrier on the tool surface, reducing the diffusion and chemical reactions between the tool and the workpiece, thereby reducing the wear of the crescent groove. For instance, coated cutting tools can effectively resist material loss caused by high temperatures and friction during the processing, ensuring the integrity of the cutting edge during long-term cutting.

2. Enhance surface lubricity: Fine, smooth or regular-textured coatings can reduce the coefficient of friction, thereby decreasing cutting heat, increasing cutting speed, and preventing high-temperature welding between the tool and the workpiece material. For instance, in high-speed cutting, low-friction coatings can significantly reduce cutting resistance, decrease heat accumulation and extend the service life of the cutting tool.

3. Extended service life: The coating endows the cutting tool with high hardness, thereby enhancing wear resistance and cutting speed, and prolonging the tool’s service life. The tool life can be increased by 3 to 5 times after coating. For instance, when processing difficult-to-cut materials, the durability advantage of coated tools is more prominent, which can significantly reduce the downtime for tool changing.

4. Increase oxidation temperature: An increase in the oxidation temperature value is beneficial for the cutting process of the tool under high-temperature conditions, broadening its application range. For instance, the TiAlN coating can maintain its hardness at high temperatures because it can form a layer of aluminum oxide between the tool and the chip, transferring heat from the tool to the workpiece or chip, thus making the tool suitable for more complex environments.

5. Anti-adhesion property: The anti-adhesion property of the coating can prevent or reduce the chemical reaction between the tool and the processed material, and avoid the deposition of workpiece material on the tool. For instance, when processing viscous materials, the coating can effectively reduce chip adhesion, keep the cutting edge clean, and improve the quality of the machined surface.

6. Enhance the mechanical properties and machinability of cutting tools: The coating not only maintains the basic good toughness and high strength of the cutting tools, but also possesses the excellent composite mechanical properties such as high hardness, oxidation resistance, high wear resistance and friction coefficient of hard coatings, significantly improving the cutting performance of the cutting tools. For instance, coated cutting tools can reduce vibration and enhance processing stability during processing, making them suitable for high-precision processing requirements.

7. Enhance processing quality: Due to the high hardness, low friction coefficient, and low affinity between cemented carbide coated tools and the material of the machined parts, it is less likely to form built-up edge and adhesive wear, reducing the cutting force by approximately 20% and the cutting heat by nearly 10%. All of these are very beneficial for reducing the deformation of the processed parts, improving the dimensional accuracy of the parts and lowering the surface roughness.