In one aspect, methods of making coated articles are described herein. A method, in some embodiments, comprises providing a substrate, and depositing a coating by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and/or physical vapor deposition (PVD) over a surface of the substrate, the coating comprising at least one polycrystalline layer, wherein one or more CVD and/or PVD conditions are selected to induce one or more properties of the polycrystalline layer. The presence of the one or more properties in the polycrystalline layer is quantified by two-dimensional (2D) X-ray diffraction analysis.

A surface coated cutting tool comprises a tool body. A TiAlCN layer having an average layer thickness of 2.0 to 20.0 μm and represented by (Ti.sub.(1-x)Al.sub.x)(C.sub.yN.sub.(1-y)) is provided on the surface of the tool body and has an average content ratio x.sub.avg of Al and an average content ratio y.sub.avg of C that satisfy 0.60≤x.sub.avg≤0.95 and 0.00≤y.sub.avg≤0.05, an area ratio occupied by crystal grains having an NaCl-type face-centered cubic structure that satisfies 90 area % or more, and crystal grains satisfying 0.01 μm<d≤0.20 μm in 10 to 40 area %. An average maximum length in a direction parallel to the surface of the tool body in each region in which the crystal grains having d of 0.01 μm<d≤0.20 μm are adjacent and connected to each other in the upper layer side region is 5.0 μm or less.

A hard coating for cutting tools according to the present invention is a hard coating for cutting tools which is formed on and adjacent to a hard base material by a PVD method, and is characterized in that the thickness of the entire hard coating is 0.5 to 10 μm, and the hard coating includes one or more nitride layers and one or more oxide layers. Each of the one or more nitride layers has a thickness of 0.1 to 5.0 μm and is composed of Al.sub.aTi.sub.bMe.sub.cN (wherein Me is at least one selected from Si, W, Nb, Mo, Ta, Hf, Zr, and Y, and 0.55≤a≤0.7, 0.2<b≤0.45, and 0≤c<0.1) or Al.sub.aCr.sub.bMe.sub.cN (wherein Me is at least one selected from Si, W, Nb, Mo, Ta, Hf, Zr, and Y, and 0.55≤a≤0.7, 0.2<b≤0.45, and 0≤c<0.1) in a cubic phase, and each of the one or more oxide layers has a thickness of 0.1 to 3.0 μm and is composed of γ-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 in a cubic phase. When the number of compositionally discontinuous interfaces throughout the hard coating including the hard base material is n, the n satisfies 4≤n≤9, and the ratio of the microhardness (H1) of the nitride layer to the microhardness (H2) of the oxide layer satisfies 1.03<H1/H2<1.3, and the ratio of the elastic modulus of the nitride layer (E1) to the elastic modulus of the oxide layer (E2) satisfies 1.1<E1/E2<1.3. Each of the nitride layers and each of the oxide layers have an elastic deformation resistance index (H/E) of 0.07 to 0.09 and a plastic deformation resistance index (H.sup.3/E.sup.2) of 0.13 to 0.29, and the elastic deformation resistance index (H/E) of the entire hard coating is 0.09 to 0.12, and the plastic deformation resistance index (H.sup.3/E.sup.2) of the entire hard coating is 0.29 to 0.32.

A coated tool includes a base and a coating layer. The coating layer includes a first layer including TiCN, a second layer including Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and a third layer including at least one of TiN and TiCN. Cl content included in the first, second and third layers is first, second and third Cl content. Each of the first Cl content and the third Cl content is larger than the second Cl content. The first Cl content is more than 0.2 atomic % and not more than 2 atomic %. The third Cl content is more than 0.2 atomic % and not more than 2 atomic %. A cutting tool of the present disclosure includes a holder which has a length from a first end to a second end and includes a pocket on a side of the first end; and the coated tool located in the pocket.

A cutting tool comprises a rake face and a flank face, the cutting tool being composed of a substrate made of a cubic boron nitride sintered material and a coating provided on the substrate, the coating including a MAlN layer, when a cross section of the MAlN layer is subjected to an electron backscattering diffraction image analysis to determine a crystal orientation of each of the crystal grains of the M.sub.xAl.sub.1−xN and a color map is created based thereon, then on the color map, the flank face having the MAlN layer occupied in area by 45% to 75% by crystal grains of the M.sub.xAl.sub.1−xN having a (111) plane with a normal thereto extending in a direction within 25 degrees with respect to a direction in which a normal to the flank face extends, the MAlN layer having a residual stress of −2 GPa to −0.1 GPa.

A coated cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating layer formed on a surface of the substrate, and has a rake face and a flank. The coating layer comprises an alternating laminate structure in which first compound layers containing AlN and second compound layers containing a compound are laminated in an alternating manner, the compound having a composition represented by formula (1) below:

(Ti.sub.1-xAl.sub.x)N  (1)

(wherein x satisfies 0.40≤x≤0.70). An average thickness T.sub.1 per first compound layer is 5 nm or more to 160 nm or less, and an average thickness T.sub.2 per second compound layer is 8 nm or more to 200 nm or less. A ratio of T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 is 0.10 or more to 0.80 or less. An average thickness T.sub.3 of the alternating laminate structure is 2.5 μm or more to 7.0 μm or less. A ratio (H/E) of hardness H to elastic modulus E is 0.065 or more to 0.085 or less at the rake face or the flank.

Provided is a cutting tool including a base material and a coating layer provided on the base material, the coating layer including a titanium carbonitride layer provided on the base material, an intermediate layer provided on the titanium carbonitride layer in contact therewith, and an alumina layer provided on the intermediate layer in contact therewith, the intermediate layer being composed of a compound made of titanium, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, the intermediate layer having a thickness of more than 1 μm, when P.sub.N1 atomic % represents an atomic ratio of the nitrogen in an interface between the intermediate layer and the alumina layer, and P.sub.N2 atomic % represents an atomic ratio of the nitrogen at a point A away from the interface by 1 μm on a side of the intermediate layer, a ratio P.sub.N1/P.sub.N2 of the P.sub.N1 to the P.sub.N2 being more than or equal to 1.03.

Methods of applying an inorganic material to a metal substrate that includes a metallic material having an austenite transformation temperature. The method includes depositing inorganic particles onto a surface of the metal substrate. In some embodiments, methods may include depositing inorganic particles at a deposition temperature that does not cause the metallic material to exceed the austenite transformation temperature. The inorganic particles deposited onto the surface of the metal substrate may form an abrasion-resistant coating on the surface of the metal substrate. The difference between the coefficient of thermal expansion of the metallic material and the coefficient of thermal expansion of the abrasion-resistant coating may be 10×10.sup.−6/degrees C. or less.

A coated cutting tool for chip forming machining of metals includes a substrate having a surface coated with a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coating. The substrate is coated with a coating having a layer of α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3, wherein the α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer exhibits a texture coefficient TC(0 0 12)≥7.2 and wherein the ratio of I(0 0 12)/I(0 1 14)≥0.8. The coating further includes a MTCVD TiCN layer located between the substrate and the α-Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer. The MTCVD TiCN layer exhibits a pole figure, as measured by EBSD, in a portion of the MTCVD TiCN layer parallel to the outer surface of the coating and less than 1 μm from the outer surface of the MTCVD TiCN, wherein a pole plot based on the data of the pole figure, with a bin size of 0.25° over a tilt angle range of 0°≤β≤45° from the normal of the outer surface of the coating shows a ratio of intensity within β≤15° tilt angle to the intensity within 0°≤β≤45° of ≥45%.

A cutting tool including a rake face, a flank face, and a cutting edge portion, comprising a substrate and an AlTiN layer, the AlTiN layer including cubic Al.sub.xTi.sub.1-xN crystal grains, A1 having an atomic ratio x of 0.7 or more and less than 0.95, the AlTiN layer including a central portion, the central portion at the rake face being occupied in area by (200) oriented Al.sub.xTi.sub.1-xN crystal grains at a ratio of 50% or more and less than 80%, the central portion at the cutting edge portion being occupied in area by (200) oriented Al.sub.xTi.sub.1-xN crystal grains at a ratio of 80% or more.