The coating division of STATON,s.r.o., has tradition of almost 20 years in deposition of wear and abrasion resistant hard coatings on cutting tools (e.g. drill bits, milling cutters, cutting tool inserts, taps, reamers, etc.) and forming tools (e.g. forms, matrices, shear and bending tools, etc.). The coating is performed using advanced technologies and procedures of arc evaporation and magnetron sputtering. Thin films, such as TiN, TiCN, TiAlN, CrAlSiN, TiBN, nanocomposites and multilayer coatings, substantially influence the properties and performance of a tool.
The dimensions of the coated tools are limited in size: length (diameter) = 600 mm, weight = 50 kg.
Influence of coatings on the properties of a tool
- prolonged toll lifetime
- reduce down-time
- reduce tooling costs per piece
- decrease the coefficient of friction
- increase the surface hardness
- increase the temperature stability of the tool tip
- increase the oxidation and chemical resistance
- allow machining of hardly workable materials
- allow increased feed and speed rates
- decrease cutting forces
- decrease roughness of the machined surfaces
- decrease material sticking
- minimalize the amount of cooling liquid used and allow even dry machining
- substantial cost reduction
TiN - Titanium Nitride - basic general-purpose wear resistant coating
TiN is the most common wear and abrasion resistant hard coating. It decreases the friction, increases chemical and temperature stability and decreases sticking of material often occurring during machining of soft steels. TiN is suitable for coating of tools made of cemented carbides– drill bits, milling cutters, cutting tool inserts, taps, reamers, punch knives, cutting tools, shear and flexion tools, matrices, forms, etc. Since it is biocompatible, it can be used on medical instruments (surgical and dental) and implantable devices. Due to its golden color tone, TiN has found wide use also as a decorative coating. The used TiN coating is easily stripped from tool steels. The reconditioning of tools can considerably decrease costs especially when using expensive tooling.
- Hardness 23 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.4
- Thermal stability 500°C
TiCN – Titanium Carbo-Nitride – wear resistant coating against adhesive corrosion
TiCN is an excellent all-purpose coating. TiCN is harder and more impact resistant than TiN. It can be used to coat cutting tools, punching and forming tools, injection mold components and other wear components. Since it is biocompatible, it can be used on medical instruments and implantable devices. The machining speed can be increased and tool lifetime can be enhanced by as much as 8x in the dependence on the application, coolant and other machining conditions. The TiCN coating is recommended to be used for sufficiently cooled cutting due to its relative lower thermal stability. The used TiCN coating is easily stripped and the tool recoated. The reconditioning of expensive tools can thus considerably decrease costs.
- Hardness 27 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.2
- Thermal stability 450°C
TiAlN – Titanium Aluminum Nitride – wear resistant coating for high speed cutting
TiAlN is a coating with excellent hardness and high thermal and oxidation resistance. Incorporation of aluminum resulted in an increase of the thermal resistance of this composite PVD coating with respect to the standard TiN coating by 100°C. TiAlN is typically coated on high speed cutting tools used on CNC machines for machining of materials of higher toughness and at severe cutting conditions. TiAlN is suitable especially for monolithic hard metal milling cutters, drill bits, cutting tool inserts and shaping knives. It can be used in dry or near-dry machining applications.
- Hardness 32 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.5
- Thermal stability 600°C
KTRN – Composite Temperature Resistant Nitride –
high-performance wear resistant coating for machining of hard materials with interrupted cut
STATON,s.r.o., developed a novel type of hard abrasion resistant composite coatings deposited using a novel arc technology. The thermal and oxidation resistance of the KTRN coatings is maintained up to 1000°C, while their hardness reaches 3500 HV and adhesion exceeds 100 N. The KTRN coatings are designed especially for use on cutting tools (e.g. drill bits, milling cutters, cutting tool inserts, etc.) made of cemented carbides employed under high cutting speed conditions. The lifetime of the tools modified with KTRN coatings were assessed using CNC machining center Cincinati Milancron. The tested tool ware represented by cutting tool inserts supplied by Sandvik Coromant. The wear measure of the cutting edge was expressed in the dependence on the cutting length.
Test of performance and lifetime of cutting tools coated with KTRN coating
Cutting conditions:
- machined material – cold-work tool steel X210Cr12, hardness 30 HRC
- cutting speed – 100 m/min
- depth – 2 mm
- travel – 0.2 mm/rev
Front edge of the insert – reference TiAlN coating after 3 m long cutting, chip width 0.12 mm (magnification of 100x)
Front edge of the insert – KTRN coating after 8 m long cutting, chip width 0.05 mm (magnification of 100x)
KTRN is suitable for applications where high chemical and thermal stability is required, e.g. CNC machines with the possibility of non-cooling machining. KTRN is an all-purpose coating suitable for machining of both easily and hardly workable materials, non-ferrous materials, alloy steel, stainless steels, cast iron, and is successfully used at extreme cutting conditions with continuous or interrupted cut (milling, turning). It is typically coated on monolithic cemented carbide milling cutters, drill bits and cutting tool inserts for CNC machining centers. KTRN coating is suitable also for tools made of high speed steels, e.g. milling cutters, drill bits, center drills. The high thermal resistance of the KTRN coating (up to 900°C) inhibits overheating of the cutting edge.
- Hardness 34 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.4
- Thermal stability 900°C
CrN – Chromium Nitride – wear and oxidation resistant coating
CrN is the hard coating with high abrasion and excellent oxidation resistance. CrN coating is used in metal forming and plastic moulding applications. Eliminates fretting, microwelding and adhesive wear. It is non-toxic and often used for medical surical devices and food coating equipment. CrN coatings have lower residual compressive stresses than TiN, can be built thicker. These coatings generally provide low friction against steels, carbides, TiN, ceramics, platings. Due to excellent adhesion to carbon steels and tungsten carbide is CrN often used as a buffer layer in combination with other coatings.
- Hardness 21 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.6
- Thermal stability 700°C
CRONAL – Chromium Aluminum Nitride – high-temperature wear resistant coating
CRONAL coating contains high amount of Cr and is specially designed for extreme cutting conditions at machining of tough materials and tempered steels with strength up to 1200 HV and for hardened steels with hardness up to 55 HRC. On the other hand, CRONAL coatings are not suitable for machining of cast iron. Machining at high cutting speeds and feeding rates and high working temperatures is possible. It is typically coated on monolithic cemented carbide milling cutters, drill bits and cutting tool inserts for CNC machining centers. It is very well suited for stamps and dies and in applications where high corrosion resistance is required.
- Hardness 30 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.5
- Thermal stability 1000°C
TiSiN - Titanium Silicium Nitride - wear resistant coating for high speed cutting
TiSiN – a coating with excellent hardness, high thermal and oxidation resistance. Incorporation of silicon to the coating results in the formation of nanocomposite system where nano-sized TiN grains are embedded in amorphous a-SiNx matrix. TiSiN is typically coated on high speed cutting tools used on CNC machines for machining of hardened steels from 50 to 65 HRC. TiSiN is suitable especially for monolithic hard metal milling cutters, drills, inserts and shaping knives. It can be used in dry or near-dry machining applications.
- Hardness 35 GPa
- Thickness 1 - 4 micrometers
- Coefficient of friction 0.6
- Thermal stability 1100°C