A coated cutting tool includes a substrate with a coating having a total thickness of 0.25-30 m. The coating has a first layer and a second layer, the first layer being a wear resistant PVD deposited layer having a thickness of 0.2-15 m arranged between the substrate and the second layer, and wherein the second layer is a Cr layer.

The present invention relates to a hard film having improved wear resistance and improved toughness. A hard film according to the present invention is formed by using a PVD method on a surface of a base material, wherein: the hard film includes a first hard layer and a second hard layer; the first hard layer has a thickness of approximately 0.1-3.0 m and is composed of Ti.sub.1-aAl.sub.aN (0.3a0.7), and has a single phase structure; and the second hard layer has a thickness of approximately 0.5-10 m and is composed of Ti.sub.1-a-bAl.sub.aMe.sub.bN (0.3a0.7, 0b0.05, the Me being at least one selected from V, Zr, Si, Nb, Cr, Mo, Hf, Ta and W); according to an XRD phase analysis method, a ratio ([200]/[111]) of the intensity of a [200] peak to the intensity of a [111] peak is approximately 1.5 or higher; the second hard layer preferentially grows in a [200] direction; the [200] peak is located at approximately 42.7-44.6 and is composed of three phases, and the [111] peak is located at approximately 37.0-38.5 and is composed of three phases; and when a peak having a largest intensity among the peaks of the three phases is a main peak and remaining peaks are sub-peaks, a ratio (main peak/sub-peaks) of the intensity of the main peak to the intensities of the sub-peaks in a [200] face is approximately 2 or higher, and a ratio (main peak/sub-peaks) of the intensity of the main peak to the intensities of the sub-peaks in a [111] face is approximately 2 or higher.

A surface-coated cutting tool includes a tool body, a lower layer, and an upper layer. The lower layer consists of a W layer, a metal carbide layer, and a metal carbonitride layer. The W layer is formed from a surface of the tool body to a depth of 10 to 500 nm. The metal carbide layer includes any one of Ti, Cr, Zr, Hf, Nb, and Ta. The upper layer is alternately laminated with an A layer and a B layer and has a total thickness of 1.0 to 8.0 m. The A layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5.0 m and is represented by (Al.sub.xCr.sub.1-x)N (0.40x0.80). The B layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5.0 m and is represented by (Al.sub.1-a-b-c-sTi.sub.aCr.sub.bSi.sub.cY.sub.d)N (0a0.40, 0.05b0.40, 0c0.20, and 0.01d0.10).

Provided is a cutting tool including a base material including a rake face and a coating layer that coats the rake face, the coating layer including a matrix region and metal particulates, the matrix region being made of a compound represented by (Al.sub.xTi.sub.yX.sub.1xy)C.sub.vO.sub.wN.sub.1vw, where X representing at least one element selected from the group consisting of chromium, silicon, niobium, tantalum, tungsten, and boron, the metal particulates containing aluminum or titanium as a constituent element, the metal particulates having particle diameters of more than or equal to 20 nm and less than or equal to 200 nm, a number of the metal particulates being more than or equal to 12 and less than or equal to 36 in a field of view of 3 m4m in a cross section parallel to a direction of a normal to an interface of the coating layer.

An ion source enhanced AlCrSiN coating for a cutting tool is provided. The ion source enhanced AlCrSiN coaling has gradient Si content and grain size, including sequentially an AlCrSiN working layer, an interlayer and an AlCrN bottom layer in order from a surface of the coating to a substrate, wherein from the AlCrN bottom layer to the AlCrSiN working layer, Si content in the interlayer is gradually increased, and the interlayer has a texture that changes from coarse columnar crystals to fine nanocrystals and amorphous body. A texture of the coating, in which the grain size is gradually decreased, sequentially includes coarse columnar crystals, fine columnar crystals and fine equiaxed crystals. A method for preparing the ion source enhanced AlCrSiN coating with the gradient Si content and grain size is provided as well as a cutting tool having the coating deposited thereon.

A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate comprising a cubic boron nitride sintered body and a coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein the coating layer comprises a Ti carbonitride layer comprising Ti(C.sub.xN.sub.1-x); an average thickness of the Ti carbonitride layer is 0.5 m or more and 5.0 m or less; in the Ti carbonitride layer, R75 is higher than R25; in the Ti carbonitride layer, a texture coefficient TC (111) of a (111) plane is 1.0 or more and 2.0 or less; and in X-ray diffraction measurement of the Ti carbonitride layer, an absolute value of a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of 2 is 0.1 or less on the (111) plane when the measurement is performed at each of angles of 0, 30, 50 and 70.

The present invention provides a vapour deposition method for preparing an amorphous lithium borosilicate compound or doped lithium borosilicate compound, the method comprising: providing a vapour source of each component element of the compound, wherein the vapour sources comprise at least a source of lithium, a source of oxygen, a source of boron and a source of silicon, and, optionally, a source of at least one dopant element; providing a substrate at a temperature of less than about 180 C.; delivering a flow of said lithium, said oxygen, said boron and said silicon, and, optionally, said dopant element, wherein the rate of flow of said oxygen is at least about 810.sup.8 m.sup.3/s; and co-depositing the component elements from the vapour sources onto the substrate wherein the component elements react on the substrate to form the amorphous compound.

An electric-arc evaporation method for coating surfaces, wherein at least two active consumption targets are used in the method, characterized in that the consumption targets are alternately connected as a cathode and an anode during the coating process.

An evaporation apparatus (100) for depositing material on a flexible substrate (160) supported by a processing drum (170) is provided. The evaporation apparatus includes: a first set (110) of evaporation crucibles aligned in a first line (120) along a first direction for generating a cloud (151) of evaporated material to be deposited on the flexible substrate (160); and a gas supply pipe (130) extending in the first direction and being arranged between an evaporation crucible of the first set (110) of evaporation crucibles and the processing drum (170), wherein the gas supply pipe (130) includes a plurality of outlets (133) for providing a gas supply directed into the cloud of evaporated material, and wherein a position of the plurality of outlets is adjustable for changing a position of the gas supply directed into the cloud of evaporated material.

A coating system includes a coating chamber having a peripheral chamber wall, a top wall, and a bottom wall. The peripheral chamber wall defines a chamber center. A plasma source is positioned at the chamber center. The coating system also includes a sample holder that holds a plurality of substrates to be coated which is rotatable about the chamber center at a first distance from the chamber center. A first isolation shield is positioned about the chamber center at a second distance from the chamber center, the first isolation shield being negatively charged.