Coated cutting tool and a method of producing a coated cutting tool

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a coated cutting tool including a substrate and a coating disposed on the substrate, wherein the coating includes a layer of Ti.sub.xZr.sub.yAl.sub.(1-x-y)N, where 0<x≦0.3, 0.2≦y≦0.8 and 0.1≦(1-x-y)≦0.7. The disclosure further relates to a method of producing such a coated cutting tool, and to a cutting insert forming a coated cutting tool.

Claims

1. A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate and a coating disposed on the substrate, wherein the coating includes one layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N where 0<x≦0.3, 0.4<y≦0.8 and 0.1≦(1-x-y)≦0.7.

2. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein x≧0.05.

3. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein x≦0.25.

4. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein y≦0.6.

5. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N has a cubic crystal structure.

6. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N has a columnar microstructure.

7. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein an X ray diffractogram of the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N has a dominant peak of a (200) plane.

8. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N is deposited by PVD, such as arc evaporation or sputtering.

9. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the coating includes an adhesion layer and the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N is disposed on top of the adhesion layer.

10. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the coating has an adhesion of at least 50 kg, at least 100 kg, or at least 150 kg, as evaluated from a Rockwell indentation test.

11. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the coating has a thickness of more than 0.5 μm.

12. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N has a thickness of more than 5 nm.

13. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises cemented carbide or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride.

14. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein 0.1≦x≦0.3.

15. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein 0.2≦x≦0.3.

16. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein 0.6≦y≦0.8.

17. The coated cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the layer of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N has a thickness of less than 20 μm.

18. A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate and a coating deposited on the substrate, wherein the coating comprises layers of TixZryAl(1-x-y)N where 0<x≦0.3, 0.2≦y≦0.8 and 0.1≦(1-x-y)≦0.7, and wherein the coating is a multilayer coating and the TixZryAl(1-x-y)N layers alternate with one or more layers selected from the group of TiN, TiAlN, TiSiN, TiSiCN, TiCrAlN, and CrAlN, or combinations thereof.

19. The coated cutting tool according to claim 18, wherein 0.2≦y≦0.4.

20. The coated cutting tool according to claim 18, wherein 0.3≦y≦0.8 or 0.4≦y≦0.8.

21. The coated cutting tool according to claim 18, wherein 0.6≦y≦0.8.

22. The coated cutting tool according to claim 18, wherein the coating has a thickness of less thans 20 μm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a pseudo-ternary phase diagram of TiN—ZrN—AlN indicating examples of claimed compositions.

(2) FIG. 2 is an X-ray diffractogram of three compositions of coatings as disclosed herein.

(3) FIG. 3 is an X-ray diffractogram for as-deposited and annealed coatings of two different compositions.

DEFINITIONS

(4) The compositions as defined in the claims may comprise unavoidable impurities (e.g. less than 1-3 at. %) substituting any of the metal elements Ti, Zr and Al, and/or N, while maintaining the advantageous effects of the disclosure and without departing from the claimed interval. For instance, N may be substituted by elements O, C or B at levels less than 1-3 at. %.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(5) An embodiment of a coated cutting tool is disclosed having a cemented carbide substrate and a coating on the substrate including a layer of Ti.sub.xZr.sub.yAl.sub.(1-x-y)N. This layer is referred to as the TiZrAlN layer herein. The amount of Ti in the composition (i.e., x) is within the range 0<x≦0.3, for example, wherein x≧0.05, or wherein x≧0.1. The amount of Zr in the composition (i.e. y) is within the range 0.2≦y≦0.8. The amount of Al in the composition (i.e. 1-x-y) is within the range 0.1≦(1-x-y)≦0.7. The layer of TiZrAlN has a cubic crystal structure and a columnar microstructure.

(6) The layer of TiZrAlN is deposited by arc evaporation on a substrate having cemented carbide or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride. Optionally, the coating includes a 5-10 nm thick adhesion layer of Ti, TiN, Cr or CrN and the layer of TiZrAlN on top of the adhesion layer. The thickness of the coating is between 0.5-20 μm, typically below 10 μm. The layer of TiZrAlN may be one layer in a multilayer coating having a composition variation between different layers in the multilayer. Alternatively, the coating may be the TiZrAlN layer, possibly in combination with an adhesion layer.

(7) The adhesion of the coating may be determined by a Rockwell C indentation test procedure as described in VDI 3198, but wherein the indentation load may be varied between 50-150 kg. The indentation load where the coating passes the indentation test in accordance with the criteria as described in VDI 3198, is taken as the adhesive strength of the coating. Using this method, the coating may have an adhesion of at least 50 kg, or at least 100 kg, for example, at least 150 kg.

(8) In FIG. 1, a pseudo-ternary phase diagram of the TiN—ZrN—AlN system is shown. Each corner of the graph corresponds to the pure component TiN, ZrN and AlN, as indicated in the graph. Each line parallel to the respective opposite side in the graph indicates 10% intervals of the respective component.

EXAMPLES

(9) In FIG. 1, three examples of compositions within the disclosed range are disclosed. The composition and thickness of the TiZrAlN layer in each example is shown in Table 1.

(10) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Sample coatings S1, S2 and S3. TiN (%) ZrN (%) AlN (%) Thickness/μm S1/Sample 1 30 24 46 9.5 S2/Sample 2 21 48 31 13 S3/Sample 3 13 69 18 8

(11) The sample coatings were all deposited by two cathode assemblies, one with a Ti.sub.0.33Al.sub.0.67-target and one with a Zr-target. Substrates of cemented carbide were placed at different positions in the deposition chamber to obtain a variation of the composition of the deposited TiZrAlN layers.

(12) The substrates were coated in an Oerlikon Balzer INNOVA System with the Advanced Plasma Optimizer upgrade. The substrates were put inside the vacuum chamber, which was equipped with two cathode assemblies. The chamber was pumped down to high vacuum (less than 10.sup.−2 Pa). The chamber was heated to 350-500° C. by heaters located inside the chamber, in this specific case 400° C. The substrates were then etched for 25 minutes in an Ar glow discharge. The cathodes were placed beside each other in the chambers. The cathodes were both provided with a ring-shaped anode placed around them (as disclosed in US 2013/0126347 A1), with a system providing a magnetic field with field lines going out from the target surface and entering the anode (see US 2013/0126347 A1). The chamber pressure (reaction pressure) was set to 3.5 Pa of N.sub.2 gas, and a negative voltage of −30 V (relative to the chamber walls) was applied to the substrate assembly. The cathodes were run in an arc discharge mode at 160 A each for 60 minutes. As the two cathodes evaporate from different target materials, a compositional gradient was formed at the sample assembly, such that substrate samples placed near the Zr target were rich in Zr, and samples placed near the Ti—Al target were richer in Ti and Al.

(13) The compositions of the samples were determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The composition of S1 was Ti.sub.0.30Zr.sub.0.24Al.sub.0.46N, the composition of S2 was Ti.sub.0.21Zr.sub.0.48Al.sub.0.31N and the composition of S3 was Ti.sub.0.13Zr.sub.0.69Al.sub.0.18N.

(14) FIG. 2 shows X-ray diffractograms for the three coatings disclosed in Table 1. The samples all show a TiZrAlN of cubic structure. All have a dominant peak from a (200) plane. Further to this, peaks from (111), (220) and (311) planes are visible. There is a shift in the position of the (200) peak due to changes in lattice parameters between the coatings.

(15) The samples were heat treated in order to evaluate the behaviour at elevated temperatures. This was done by annealing at 1100° C. for 2 h. The structure of as-deposited coatings and annealed coatings were characterized by X-ray diffractometry with the Bragg-Brantano setup.

(16) FIG. 3 shows such X-ray diffractograms for as-deposited and annealed Ti.sub.0.13Zr.sub.0.69Al.sub.0.18N (S3) and Ti.sub.0.30Zr.sub.0.24Al.sub.0.46N (S1). For as-deposited samples, the (200)-peak from cubic TiZrAlN phase is identified at 2θ=40.8° for S3 and 2θ=42.08° for S1, while other peaks (labelled ‘s’) originate from phases in the cemented carbide substrate. For S3 there is no apparent change in structure before and after annealing. A small peak shift of the (200) peak may be attributed to stress relaxation. The composition is thus very stable. After annealing of the S1 coating, the cubic (200) peak is asymmetric due to formation of another cubic phase with a (200) diffraction peak at lower angles. This corresponds to a phase with a lattice parameter closer to that of ZrN. The coating thus has a principally cubic microstructure. The decomposition of the composition in the coatings into less desirable phases, such as hexagonal w-AlN, is thus low or at least slow.

(17) Although the present embodiment(s) has been described in relation to particular aspects thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred therefore, that the present embodiment(s) be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.