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Article

Effect of Arc Current on the Microstructure of AlTiN-Coated Tools and Milling of 304 Stainless Steel

by
Simin Zou
1,2,3,*,†,
Zixiang Luo
1,†,
Yingxin Li
2,3,
Liang Yuan
2,3,
Yu Tang
2,3,
Jialin Zhou
1 and
Huizhong Li
1,3
1
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
2
Zhuzhou Ruideer Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., Zhuzhou 412000, China
3
Hunan Pressure Sintering Furnace Engineering and Technology Research Centre, Zhuzhou 412000, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Coatings 2024, 14(6), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14060704
Submission received: 16 April 2024 / Revised: 20 May 2024 / Accepted: 29 May 2024 / Published: 4 June 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Ceramic and Alloy Coatings, 2nd Edition)
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
304 stainless steel demonstrates a low thermal conductivity and work hardening characteristics, resulting in its processing, and will adhere to the tip of the tool; as well as the phenomenon of chipping, shortening the life of the tool. AlTiN coatings are representative of coatings applied to carbide tools. In this paper, AlTiN coatings with different arc current processes were deposited on carbide milling inserts using arc ion plating. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and milling properties of the coatings were investigated by using the SEM, EDS, XRD, scratch meter, friction and wear meter, and vertical machining center. The findings revealed that all coatings displayed columnar crystal growth, free from cracks and voids. With an increasing arc current, there was a notable increase in surface droplets, pits, and coating thickness. The coating deposited at a 140 A arc current showed a pronounced (200) orientation preference. The adhesion force peaked at 56.0 N with a subsequent decline, and the friction coefficient hit its lowest point of 0.429 at 140 A, contrasting with its highest value of 0.55 at 160 A. After 39 min of dry milling, the tool with a 140 A AlTiN coating exhibited minimal wear of 0.196 mm, just below the 0.2 mm failure threshold, indicating superior performance at this arc current setting.

1. Introduction

304 stainless steel is widely used in aerospace, shipbuilding, the food and chemical industry, the medical industry, and other industries, with its excellent corrosion resistance [1,2,3]. However, 304 stainless steels are typical difficult to process materials; its chemical composition contains more Cr and Ni elements, resulting in a low thermal conductivity [4,5]. Therefore, during the processing of a 304 stainless steel workpiece, the temperature of the workpiece in contact with the cutting edge of the tool rises, causing the phenomenon of the mutual diffusion of the elements, thus triggering the sticky knife phenomenon. Sticky knife will lead to a reduction in the sharpness of the cutting edge of the tool, and a slowing down of the processing speed; moreover the surface roughness of the workpiece is not up to standard, along with other problems [6,7]. At the same time, the hardening problem caused by the low plasticity of 304 stainless steel machining causes the tool chipping phenomenon in the machining process, shortens the service life of the tool, and reduces the machining efficiency of the workpiece [8].
Therefore, the development of tools with a high hardness, high wear resistance, high chemical stability, and high oxidation resistance can effectively improve the machining efficiency of 304 stainless steel and the surface quality of the workpiece, with certain economic benefits [9,10]. At present, the deposition of coatings on carbide tools can effectively increase the surface hardness, wear resistance, chemical stability, and oxidation resistance of the tools [11,12,13,14]. Arc ion plating (AIP) technology is widely used for the preparation of carbide-coated tools due to its excellent electron impact rate, fast deposition rate, and dense coating structure [15,16,17,18,19].
For the coated tools used in the field of machining 304 stainless steel materials, researchers have gone on to improve the service life of the tools from multiple perspectives in all aspects. For example, He [20,21] first studied the wear performance and friction characteristics of AlTiN coatings with different atomic ratios of Al and Ti for machining 304 stainless steel. The study shows that the Al60Ti40N coating has good tribological and micromechanical properties and has the longest tool life. On the basis of this work, He [22] designed a double-layer coating structure of Al50Ti50N/Al60Ti40N and compared the performance of machining 304 stainless steel with Al50Ti50N and Al60Ti40N single-layer coatings. It is shown that the double-layer coating has better mechanical and tribological properties and significantly improves the life of the cutting tool. It can be seen that optimizing the elemental composition and coating structure of AlTiN coatings can effectively increase their life for machining 304 stainless steel. However, the effect of deposition parameters (arc current, substrate bias, temperature, and pressure) on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and tool life of AlTiN coatings for machining 304 stainless steel coatings has not been investigated in their work. Cai [23] investigated the effect of substrate bias on the microstructure and properties of AlTiN coatings in multiarc ion plating, and the results showed that the hardness and elasticity modulus of the coatings increased with the increase in substrate bias. In addition, Tang [24] investigated the effects of the deposition time and arc current on the composition ratio and thickness of AlTiN coatings in the magnetron sputtering technique and concluded that Al50Ti50N coatings have the best wear resistance. However, the effect of deposition process parameters on the wear resistance and lifetime of AlTiN coatings in practical applications was not investigated.
Therefore, the main innovation of this paper is to establish the influence law of the arc current process on the machining of 304 stainless steel by deposited AlTiN-coated tools in arc ion plating technology. The microstructure and mechanical properties of AlTiN coatings deposited under different arc currents were tested. And 304 stainless steel was machined using AlTiN-coated tools with different arc currents to test the tool lifetime. The arc current process selection for arc-ion-plating-coated tools applied in processing 304 stainless steel provides a certain reference value, and there exists a certain potential in industrial applications.

2. Experiment

2.1. Coating Preparation

AIP technology (MM1, PLASMA, Boca Raton, FL, USA) is used to deposit AlTiN coating on the carbide milling cutter blade; the carbide milling cutter blade is COM10 from Kunshan Changying Cemented Carbide Company (Kunshan, China). Before deposition, the substrate materials were ultrasonically cleaned in propanol and ethanol, respectively, for 15 min, and then dried. The deposited chamber is equipped with four targets, one high-purity Ti metal target and three Al67Ti33 alloy targets. The whole deposition process can be divided into two stages: etching and coating preparation. In the etching stage, the cavity was heated to 550 °C and held for 40 min to make the temperature in the furnace uniform and consistent, and then the target material was cleaned by glow discharge under the conditions of bias voltage of −800 V and cavity pressure of 4 × 10−3 Pa through Ar, N2, and H2 gases for a total cleaning time of 65 min to ensure that the surface of the target material was clean. In the cleaning process, N2 and H2 gases are alternately introduced, while Ar gas is introduced throughout the whole process, but only N2 gas is introduced in the subsequent coating stage. Coating Stage: (I) A TiN transition layer was coated on the carbide milling cutter blade with deposition parameters of −800 V substrate bias voltage and 120 A arc current to increase the bonding force between the AlTiN coating and the substrate. (II) Four AlTiN coatings with different arc currents (120 A, 140 A, 160 A, and 180 A) were deposited on the TiN surface, and the specific process parameters are shown in Table 1. Figure 1a shows a schematic view of the coated cavity top-view target material, Figure 1b shows a schematic view of the structure of the AlTiN coating, and Figure 1c shows a cross-sectional SEM morphology of the substrate material.

2.2. Microstructure Characterization

We used a field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM, TESCAN MIRA4, TESCAN, Brno, Czech Republic) to analyze the microstructure and morphology of the coating surface and cross-section, and to observe the wear pattern of the milling cutter blade after testing the mechanical properties. The chemical composition of each morphology was analyzed using an EDS spectrometer Oxford (Xplore30. Aztec one, Oxford Instruments, Oxford, UK) built into the electron microscope. The phase structure of the coatings was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD, D/Max 2500VB, Rigaku Ultima IV, Tokyo, Japan) using a Cu target at 40 kV with 250 mA. The scanning angle was 30°–70° with a step size of 0.02° and a speed of 2°/min.

2.3. Mechanical Performance and Milling Cutter Testing

Friction and wear experiments were conducted using comprehensive material surface properties tester (CFT-1, Lanzhou Zhongke Kaihua, Lanzhou, China), friction and wear using reciprocating friction mode, friction sub-bearing steel GCR15 ball, load 10 N, reciprocating length of 5 mm, rotary speed of 500 r/min, running time of 30 min, room temperature of 25 °C; three tests were performed on each sample [25,26]. The coating adhesion of the milling blades was examined using a scratch tester (RST, CSM Peuseux, Peuseux, Switzerland), and three scratches were made on each sample to obtain the average value. The test conditions were as follows: diamond indenter (radius 200 μm), scratch length 4 mm, load range 1–100 N, loading rate 40 N/min, and scratch speed 1.6 mm/min; three tests were performed on each sample [27].
The milling experiments were carried out on a vertical machining center (VF-3SS, Haas Automation Inc., Oxnard, CA, USA) using a milling shank of EAP400R C20-25-150-2T and milling inserts of model APMT1604, with tip radius of 0.8 mm, forward angle of 8°, main deflection angle of 90°, and backward angle of 11°, and two milling cutter blades placed in the shank as inserts A and insert B, as shown in Figure 2. For the measurement of insert rear-face wear, a digital microscope (AM413ZT Dino-Lite, AnMo Co., Taipei, Taiwan, China) was used to count the wear of each milling cutter after 13 min of machining, and, in order to avoid accidental behaviors during the machining process, measurements were taken on the rear face of both milling cutter blades A and B of each process, three times per measurement. A total of 6 values were taken, and the average value was taken as the flank wear corresponding to the process at that time. Processing material for the 304 stainless steel material, and specific processing parameters are shown in Table 2. Rake and flank surfaces of coated tools after milling were analyzed by using SEM and EDS.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Effect of Arc Tatget on Microstructure

The surface morphology of AlTiN coatings prepared under different arc currents is shown in Figure 3. As observed in Figure 3a–d, all AlTiN coatings prepared with varying arc currents exhibit white droplet particles, which are characteristic defects of the Arc Ion Plating (AIP) technique. Additionally, black pits left behind by the spalling of droplets are visible, although no cracks are present on the coating surface. A comparison of Figure 3a–d reveals that the number of white droplets on the coating surface increases with increasing arc current. When the arc current is raised to 160 A, there is a marked increase in the density of white particles. Higher arc currents lead to excessive surface temperatures of the target material during deposition, resulting in more and larger localized melting pools and, consequently, an increase in the quantity and size of the splattered droplets [28].
The cross-sectional fracture appearance of AlTiN coatings prepared under different arc currents is depicted in Figure 3e–h. Figure 3e–h indicates that all AlTiN coatings exhibit a columnar crystal growth pattern. The AlTiN coatings adhere well to the hard carbide substrate, with no cracks or voids observed. Under identical deposition conditions, the thickness of the AlTiN coatings increases with the arc current. When the arc current is increased to 180 A, the coating thickness increases from 0.61 μm at 120 A to 1.38 μm. This is due to the fact that an increase in arc current causes more target atoms to be ionized and deposited onto the substrate, thereby increasing the thickness of the coating [29]. At the same time, the increase in arc current will have an effect on the internal stresses between the coating and the substrate.
The XRD analysis of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents are shown in Figure 4a. From Figure 4a, it can be seen that the AlTiN coatings prepared by different arc currents all show a typical face-centered cubic structure. Figure 4b shows the local magnification of the (200) diffraction peak in XRD diffraction (Figure 4a). From Figure 4b, it can be seen that the (200) diffraction intensity of the AlTiN coatings shows an increase, and then decrease with the increase in the arc current, and the (200) diffraction intensity is the largest for the arc current of 140 A. The (200) diffraction intensities of the samples with arc currents of 160 and 180 A are lower than those of the samples with arc currents of 120 A. The (200) diffraction intensities of the samples with arc currents of 160 and 180 A are lower than those of the samples with arc currents of 120 A. The preferential orientation of the coatings suggests that the deposition conditions at around 140 A of the arc current favors the crystalline growth of the AlTiN coatings. The shift of the diffraction peaks is due to the solid solution of Al atoms in the TiN phase, which reduces the lattice constant of the coating and shifts the diffraction peaks [30].

3.2. Mechanical Properties of Coatings

The scratch morphology of AlTiN coatings prepared and acoustic emission with different arc currents is shown in Figure 5. As can be seen from Figure 5, all AlTiN coatings showed exfoliation in the scratch test. In the middle section of the scratch in Figure 5, a clear white bright matrix tissue with exfoliated black tissue can be observed. Significant fluctuations in acoustic emission signals are indicative of the onset of peeling in the coating scratches. This observation allows us to deduce that the applied load at this juncture represents the critical load threshold Lc2, for the film layer. The bonding force of the AlTiN coating shows a pattern of increasing and then decreasing with the increase in the arc current, and the maximum bonding force of the AlTiN coating is 56.0 N at the arc current of 140 A, and the minimum bonding force of the coating is 46.2 N at the arc current of 180 A. The bonding force of the AlTiN coating at the arc current of 140 A is 56.0 N, and the minimum bonding force of the coating is 46.2 N. This is due to the fact that the energy of the ions in the coating increases with increasing arc current, which affects the densification and adhesion. Moreover, higher arc currents lead to an increase in the internal stress of the coating, resulting in a decrease in the bonding force [12].
Figure 6a shows the friction coefficient versus time during friction wear for AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents. From Figure 6a, it can be seen that the friction coefficients of all the samples are in a low stage at the beginning of the friction, and, with the friction wear, the friction substituent constantly destroys the AlTiN coatings, the friction coefficients of the AlTiN coatings with the arc currents of 160 A and 180 A gradually increase after 8 min, and the friction coefficients of the samples with the arc currents of 120 A and 140 A tend to be the same. Moreover, the friction coefficients of all the samples tend to be stable before 22 min, and the friction coefficients of the samples with arc current 120 A appear to increase after 22 min, and the samples with arc current 160 A appear to increase rapidly. The friction coefficient of the sample with an arc current of 140 A was still stable and did not show large fluctuations. The friction coefficient curves of the samples in Figure 6a were averaged and the results are shown in Figure 6b. From Figure 6b, the arc current 140 A is the lowest average friction coefficient of 0.42, and the arc current 160 A is the highest average friction coefficient of 0.55.
This can be seen by combining the surface morphology of Figure 3a–d with the magnitude of the bonding force in Figure 5. The average coefficient of friction of the coating receives the influence of the microstructure of the coating, the chemical composition of the surface, and the bonding force. With the increase in arc current, the number of drops and pits on the surface increases, which increases the friction between the friction sub and the coating surface. At the same time, the bonding of the coating decreases with the increase in the arc current, and the fragments of the coating that flake off early in the process of frictional wear become hard relative to the surface for secondary damage. These lead to the poor friction behavior of AlTiN coatings with arc currents of 160 A and 180 A [25].

3.3. Milling Performance of Coated Tools

The variation curves of the average flank wear of the AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents for milling 304 stainless steel with milling time are shown in Figure 7 (0.2 mm is the dulling criterion). As can be seen in Figure 7, the backs of all milling cutter inserts did not meet the failure criteria at 13 min into the machining phase. When the milling time reaches 26 min, the base insert without an AlTiN coating has reached the failure criterion of 0.211 mm. In the initial stage of milling from 13 min to 26 min, the flank wear increases less, but, in the process of 26 min to 39 min, the flank wear of all milling cutter blades increases more quickly. After 39 min of milling 304 stainless steel, the AlTiN-coated milling cutter blades with arc currents of 120 A, 160 A, and 180 A reached the failure standard. And, for the 140 A arc current AlTiN-coated cutter, after 39 min, the milling processing cutter face wear amount is 0.196 mm, and it has not reached the failure standard.
Figure 8 shows the optical morphology of AlTiN-coated milling inserts prepared with different arc currents after different milling times. From Figure 8, it can be seen that the rear face of the uncoated cutter has been violently worn after 13 min of milling, while the wear of the cutters with AlTiN coating deposition are all lower, indicating that the deposition of AlTiN coating on carbide can effectively increase the service life of the cutter. At the same time, the arc current 160 A—Tool B tool was found to have an obvious sticky area (as shown by the red circle in the Figure 8), and, in the subsequent milling process, the sticky area further caused the chipping phenomenon. This phenomenon was observed on the back face of AlTiN-coated tools prepared with different arc currents. In the milling process, when the inserts cause the sticky knife phenomenon, this will lead to a blunt edge; in the milling process, the friction coefficient increases and the edge of the local temperature increases, so that the coating and the substrate, due to the inconsistency of the coefficient of thermal expansion of the internal stresses, lead to the early spalling. At the same time, due to the sticky knife, this leads to chip removal difficulties that result in the cutting down of the debris on the tool coating and the substrate materials continuing to be damaged, ultimately leading to the phenomenon of chipping. The 304 stainless steel material itself will produce work hardening, in the process of processing the milling cutter blade after the face of the tool to cause further wear [31,32].
And the sticking knife phenomenon appeared more often in the samples with arc current 160 A and 180 A. According to Zhao’s [33] results, the temperature of the workpiece surface will be increased when the thickness of the coating is increased. This leads to the increase in temperature and softening of the chips dropped by cutting. The softened chips will tend to adhere to the front face of the tool and increase the wear of the tool. Meanwhile, the article of K.-D. Bouzakis [34] also pointed out that, after the oxidization of PVD Ti1−xAlxN-coated tools at high temperatures, all types of hardness and mechanical properties of the coatings decreased. Moreover, K.-D. Bouzakis’ [35] fatigue experiments on PVD coatings showed that the coating microstructure becomes brittle in the stress concentration area and the tool life is significantly shortened. Therefore, in this paper, the increase in the thickness of the AlTiN coating but the reduction in the life of milling 304 stainless steel material can be well-explained. First of all, as the arc current increases, the coating thickness increases, resulting in the highest temperature of the coated tool in the machining process of the workpiece and tool contact parts. And the high temperature to promote the coating and oxygen reaction in the air oxidation failure reduces the mechanical properties. The softened debris generated by the sticky tool phenomenon further triggered the stress concentration of the coating, which ultimately led to the coating life not increasing with the increase in coating thickness.
Figure 9 shows the SEM morphology of the positive cutter face of AlTiN-coated tools prepared with different arc currents at 39 min of milling. As can be seen from Figure 9, all the AlTiN tools prepared with different arc currents showed laminar black areas with stacked bright white areas below the tool tip after milling 304 stainless steel. Mapping was performed by zooming in on the local area, and the content of each element is shown in Table 3. From the Mapping diagram in Figure 9. and the data in Table 3, it can be seen that the laminar flaky black areas are the unpeeled AlTiN coatings, and the bright-colored areas are the 304 stainless steel material adhering to the tool tip. Combined with the distribution of W elements, it can be seen that the cuts during the milling process will constantly strike the AlTiN coating area on the front face of the cutter, resulting in the lamellar morphology of the coating, as well as the flaking phenomenon, which exposes the matrix organization. At the same time, a high content of oxygen was also detected on the surface of the positive tool face, which is the result of oxidative wear caused by the combination of the coating with oxygen in the air due to the high temperature generated locally at the tip of the tool during the dry milling process.
The SEM morphology of the back face of the AlTiN-coated tools prepared with different arc currents at 39 min of milling is shown in Figure 10. As can be seen from Figure 10, all arc-current-prepared AlTiN tools showed abrasive wear regions on the rear tool face, and obvious crescent bay regions with chip tumors generated by adhesive wear could be observed. Similar to the morphology of the positive tool face, the AlTiN coating can be observed near the wear area of the rear tool face in the shape of lamellar flakes knocked by the debris, and cracks of the coating can be observed in Figure 10a. From Figure 10a, it can be seen that the failure form of the AlTiN coating with arc current 120 A is mainly adhesive wear, which has the largest wear area, and the edge has been completely passivated. As can be seen from Figure 10b, the edge area of the rear cutter face of arc current 140 A formed a curvature with the crescent bay area, and the edge position did not accumulate more chip tumors, which led to the debris milled down during the machining process being successfully discharged through the crescent bay area, and the secondary damage to the coating was small. As can be seen in Figure 10c, the damage to the back face of arc current 160 A is more intense, not forming a regular crescent bay area, while the AlTiN coating in the edge area is a large area of flaking craters, and, at the same time, the abrasive wear generated by the smaller area, with chipping as the main form of failure [36,37,38].

4. Conclusions

Arc ion plating was used to deposit AlTiN coatings on carbide milling cutter blades with four different arc current (120 A, 140 A, 160 A, and 180 A) processes, and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the coatings were comparatively investigated by the arc current processes with the behavior of dry milling 304 stainless steel, and the conclusions were obtained as follows:
(1) White droplets and black pits appear on the surface of the AlTiN coatings prepared by different arc current processes and increase with the increase in arc current. And the AlTiN coatings all displayed columnar crystal growth and the phase structure is a face-centered cubic structure. The intensity of the (200) diffraction peak is the largest for the AlTiN coating prepared by arc current 140 A.
(2) With the increase in the arc current, the bonding force of the coatings shows the phenomenon of increasing and then decreasing, and the bonding force of the AlTiN coatings prepared under the arc current of 140 A reaches 56.0 N. The average friction coefficient of the AlTiN coatings prepared under the arc current of 140 A is the lowest at the same time as 0.42.
(3) The AlTiN coatings prepared at arc current 140 A have the lowest wear on the back face in the dry milling test of 304 stainless steel due to its better surface morphology, high coating adhesion, and low coefficient of friction. The wear mechanisms of the AlTiN-coated tools prepared by the four arc currents are abrasive wear, adhesive wear, and oxidative wear.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, S.Z. and Z.L.; data curation, S.Z. and Z.L.; funding acquisition: Y.L. and H.L.; investigation, S.Z. and Z.L.; methodology, L.Y. and Y.T.; project administration, Y.L. and H.L.; validation, L.Y. and Y.T.; writing—original draft, Z.L. and J.Z.; writing—review and editing, H.L.; S.Z. and Z.L. contributed equally to this work. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported financially by the Hunan Key Research and Developments Program (2023GK2097), and the Science and Technology Innovation Talent Program (2023RC3248).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors Simin Zou, Yingxin Li, Liang Yuan and Yu Tang was employed by Zhuzhou Ruideer Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. (a) Schematic diagram of PLASMA coating deposition system; (b) the structural design for AlTiN coatings; and (c) SEM morphology of the substrate cross-section.
Figure 1. (a) Schematic diagram of PLASMA coating deposition system; (b) the structural design for AlTiN coatings; and (c) SEM morphology of the substrate cross-section.
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Figure 2. Schematic diagram of dry milling 304 stainless steel experiment.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of dry milling 304 stainless steel experiment.
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Figure 3. Surface and cross-sectional SEM images of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents. Surface: (a) 120 A, (b) 140 A, (c) 160 A, and (d) 180 A; cross-sectional: (e) 120 A, (f) 140 A, (g) 160 A, and (h) 180 A.
Figure 3. Surface and cross-sectional SEM images of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents. Surface: (a) 120 A, (b) 140 A, (c) 160 A, and (d) 180 A; cross-sectional: (e) 120 A, (f) 140 A, (g) 160 A, and (h) 180 A.
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Figure 4. (a) XRD patterns of AlTiN coatings at different arc currents; and (b) localized magnification of the (200) diffraction peak of AlTiN coatings.
Figure 4. (a) XRD patterns of AlTiN coatings at different arc currents; and (b) localized magnification of the (200) diffraction peak of AlTiN coatings.
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Figure 5. Scratch morphology of AlTiN coatings prepared and acoustic emission with different arc currents: (a) 120 A; (b) 140 A; (c) 160 A; and (d) 180 A.
Figure 5. Scratch morphology of AlTiN coatings prepared and acoustic emission with different arc currents: (a) 120 A; (b) 140 A; (c) 160 A; and (d) 180 A.
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Figure 6. Friction coefficients of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents: (a) friction coefficient; and (b) mean friction coefficient.
Figure 6. Friction coefficients of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents: (a) friction coefficient; and (b) mean friction coefficient.
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Figure 7. Wear curves of the back face of AlTiN-coated and uncoated tools prepared with different arc currents.
Figure 7. Wear curves of the back face of AlTiN-coated and uncoated tools prepared with different arc currents.
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Figure 8. Metallography of tool-face wear after different milling periods for AlTiN-coated and uncoated tools prepared with different arc currents.
Figure 8. Metallography of tool-face wear after different milling periods for AlTiN-coated and uncoated tools prepared with different arc currents.
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Figure 9. SEM images of the wear of the front tool face of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents at 39 min of milling: (a) 120 A; (b) 140 A; (c) 160 A; and (d) 180 A.
Figure 9. SEM images of the wear of the front tool face of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents at 39 min of milling: (a) 120 A; (b) 140 A; (c) 160 A; and (d) 180 A.
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Figure 10. SEM images of the wear of the back tool face of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents at 39 min of milling: (a) 120 A; (b) 140 A; (c) 160 A; and (d) 180 A.
Figure 10. SEM images of the wear of the back tool face of AlTiN coatings prepared with different arc currents at 39 min of milling: (a) 120 A; (b) 140 A; (c) 160 A; and (d) 180 A.
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Table 1. Deposition conditions of the coatings.
Table 1. Deposition conditions of the coatings.
ParametersTiN LayerAlTiN Layer
Rotation of the substrate holder, rpm33
Nitrogen flow, sccm200200
Deposition temperature, °C550550
Arc current, A120120, 140, 160, 180
Bias voltage, -V80060
Deposition time, min5210
Table 2. Milling parameters for tool performance tests.
Table 2. Milling parameters for tool performance tests.
Types of ToolsUncoated; AlTiN-Coated Milling Inserts Deposited by Four Different Arc Currents
Work materials304 stainless steel
Spindle revolution, rpm1500
Cutting speed, m/min120
Feed rate, mm/r0.09
0.5
Surface milling, dry
Cutting depth, mm
Milling style
Table 3. EDS elemental analyses for Mapping method regions in Figure 9.
Table 3. EDS elemental analyses for Mapping method regions in Figure 9.
Arc Current(A)Chemical Composition (at%)
CNOAlSiTiCrMnFeNiW
12058.433.0518.420.540.220.193.910.3711.781.072.02
14057.33-9.540.390.440.017.130.9521.732.290.20
16042.37-9.850.600.480.1410.01.2030.712.901.72
18034.50-19.930.350.500.0410.01.5228.152.762.20
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Zou, S.; Luo, Z.; Li, Y.; Yuan, L.; Tang, Y.; Zhou, J.; Li, H. Effect of Arc Current on the Microstructure of AlTiN-Coated Tools and Milling of 304 Stainless Steel. Coatings 2024, 14, 704. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14060704

AMA Style

Zou S, Luo Z, Li Y, Yuan L, Tang Y, Zhou J, Li H. Effect of Arc Current on the Microstructure of AlTiN-Coated Tools and Milling of 304 Stainless Steel. Coatings. 2024; 14(6):704. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14060704

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zou, Simin, Zixiang Luo, Yingxin Li, Liang Yuan, Yu Tang, Jialin Zhou, and Huizhong Li. 2024. "Effect of Arc Current on the Microstructure of AlTiN-Coated Tools and Milling of 304 Stainless Steel" Coatings 14, no. 6: 704. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14060704

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