EFFECT OF WET MICRO-BLASTING OF PVD-FILMS ON THE CUTTING

PERFORMANCE OF COATED TOOLS

K.-D. Bouzakis1,3, S. Gerardis1,3, G. Skordaris1,3, G. Katirtzoglou1,3,

S. Makrimallakis1,3, M. Pappa1,3, N. Michailidis1,3, F. Klocke2,3, E. Bouzakis2
1. Laboratory for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Hellas
2. Laboratory of Machine Tools and Production Engineering, Technical University of Aachen,
Steinbachstr.53, D-52056 Aachen, Germany
3. Fraunhofer, Project Center Coatings in Manufacturing, A joint initiative by the Fraunhofer
and the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH)

ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the feasibility of increasing the wear resistance of cemented
carbide tools through water micro-blasting of their PVD-coatings. Nanohardness
measurements were conducted to determine the influence of water micro-blasting
on superficial films’ hardness. Ball cratering tests were carried out at the flank and
rake near the cutting edge to investigate the alteration of coating thickness due to
micro-blasting. Moreover the influence of water micro-blasting on the cutting edge
radius and topomorphy is examined by means of confocal and EDX-measurements
respectively. The cutting performance of coated inserts, subjected to films’ water mi-
cro-blasting was investigated in milling and explained with the aid of appropriate
measurements.

KEYWORDS: PVD coating, water micro-blasting, cutting performance

1. INTRODUCTION
The loading capacity of the coated tools can be improved by means of micro-blasting on their
PVD film surfaces /1,2/. Using the knowledge of the improvement of tool cutting performance
through the conduction of coatings’ dry micro-blasting, the goal of this paper is to clarify the ef-
fect coatings’ water micro-blasting on the wear behaviour of coated tools and interpret the re-
lated results. Cemented carbide inserts with TiAlN coating were manufactured by the German
Company CEMECON AG using the C9000 coating machine and were micro-blasted at various
pressures. Al203 grains were used in micro-blasting with a mean radius of 5 µm. A FISCHER-
SCOPE H100 with a Berkovich indenter was used in order to conduct the nanohardness meas-
urements. The tip geometrical deviations of this indenter were detected according to the meth-
ods, described in /3/.

2. NANOHARDNESS DETERMINATION OF COATINGS’ WET MICRO-BLASTING AT

VARIOUS PRESSURES
Nanohardness measurements were conducted in all examined micro-blasted PVD films at a
maximum indentation load of 15mN, keeping all conditions constant during PVD films’ micro-
blasting apart from the applied pressure, as illustrated in Figure 1a. As it can be observed, the
micro-blasting pressure decreases the indentation depth, thus improving the superficial film
hardness. Moreover, the maximum achieved indentation depths in a case of water micro-
blasted coated tools compared to the dry ones, under the same conditions, are lower for all ap-
plied pressures, as it can be seen in Figure 1b. Thus, an enhancement of the wear behaviour of

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference Coatings in Manufacturing Engineering, 1-3 October 2008, Chalkidiki, Greece
Edited by: K.-D. Bouzakis, Fr.-W. Bach, B. Denkena, M. Geiger,
Published by: Laboratory for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering (ΕΕΔΜ),
Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki and of the Fraunhofer Project Center Coatings in Manufacturing (PCCM),
a joint initiative by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
143
the water micro-blasted coated tools is expected, compared to the dry ones, as the width of the
overstressed region is greater within the coating due to micro-blasting.

Figure 1: Nanohardeness measurements of all examined cases.

3. EFFECT OF THE WATER MICRO-BLASTING PRESSURE ON COATING THICKNESS,

CUTTING EDGE RADIUS AND TOPOMORTHY
According to /4/, the film thickness distribution on the rake and flank influence significantly the
wear propagation in cutting processes. Thicker film on the tool rake in comparison to the one on
the flank, and moreover a thick and uniformly deposited film in the cutting wedge region en-
hances significantly the cutting performance in milling. The conduct of water micro-blasting on
PVD films might influence the distribution of the coating thickness near the cutting wedge. In
order to examine this effect, appropriate ball cratering tests were carried out. A characteristic
ball-cratering imprint is shown in the upper part of Figure 2. Those imprints were evaluated with

Figure 2: Coating thickness measurement on rake and flank area.

144 7th Coatings – 2008

the aid of confocal extracted diagrams, describing the alterations of the crater depth versus the
crater width. According to the related results, shown in the same figure, the water micro-blasting
procedure leads to a strongly decrease of the coating thickness on the rake, whereas the coat-
ing thickness on the flank remains almost invariable. More specifically, at higher exercised pres-
sure during water micro-blasting, this effect is more intense.
Another crucial tool parameter, affecting its cutting performance is the constructive cutting edge
radius. As it has been already reported /5/, larger cutting edge radii reduce the tool mechanical
stresses, contributing to a significant increasing of the coated tool lifetime. The effect of water
micro-blasting conditions on the magnitude of the cutting edge radius was studied thoroughly by
means of the conduction of confocal measurements along the cutting edge, as exhibited in Fig-
ure 3. In this way, the fluctuations of the cutting edge radius versus the cutting edge position
after PVD films’ micro-blasting at various pressures were registered. Moreover, the mean values
of the cutting edge radius were captured for all investigated cases. According to extracted re-
sults, illustrated in the same figure, the water micro-blasting procedure on PVD films leads to
cutting edge radius increase and this effect is more intense, as the pressure gets higher.

Figure 3: Cutting edge radius calculation with the aid of Nanofocus measurement device.

An overview concerning the effects of PVD films’ water micro-blasting on the coating thickness
of the cutting edge as well as on the cutting edge radius is shown in Figure 4. Increasing the
water micro-blasting pressure, the cutting edge radius due to this fact a cutting performance
enhancement is expected. On the other hand, at higher pressures the coating thickness on the
cutting wedge is decreased drastically, worsening the coated tool lifetime.

Coatings in Manufacturing Processes 145

Figure 4: Characteristic parameters of the cutting edge radius.

Further investigations were focused on the influence of PVD films’ water micro-blasting on the
cutting edge topomorphy. The cutting edge is undamaged after Physical Vapour Deposition
(PVD). On the other hand, the conduct of water micro-blasting on coated tools cause local coat-
ing material removals on the cutting edge, which are monitored through SEM investigations and
can be observed in Figure 5. Related EDX-measurements verify this fact, as the chemical ele-
ments W and Co start appearing at these measurements. It has to be pointed out that increased
water micro-blasting pressure results to a more intense coating removal.

Figure 5: SEM micrographs and EDX analyses at the cutting edge of all examined cases.

146 7th Coatings – 2008

4. WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF COATED TOOLS IN MILLING WITH WATER MICRO-BLASTED
FILMS AT VARIOUS PRESSURES

In order to investigate the effect of PVD films’ water micro-blasting on the cutting performance,
milling tests were carried out. The experiments were performed using a three-axis numerically
controlled milling centre. The applied tool-workpiece system in the milling experiments is illus-
trated in Figure 6. The cutting insert’s status was inspected after a prescribed set of successive
cuts the occurring chip characteristics are shown in figure. The tool wear condition was exam-
ined by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray micro-
analyses.
Figure 7 demonstrates the flank wear versus the accumulated number of cuts of the examined
coatings, subjected to water micro-blasting at various pressures. As it can be observed, in all

Figure 6: Cutting strategy kinematics.

Figure 7: Flank wear development versus the number of cuts for all examined cases and cor-
responding SEM micrographs.

Coatings in Manufacturing Processes 147

examined cases of water micro-blasted films, the cutting performance is worsening after water
micro-blasting. Moreover, this phenomenon is more intense at higher exercised pressure. Char-
acteristic SEM micrographs of the worn cutting edge after ca. 40x103 cuts in all examined cases
of the applied pressures are shown in the bottom figure part. Moreover, although the water mi-
cro-blasting leads to improved coating properties, especially at higher pressures, the decrease
of the coating thickness on the cutting edge i.e from 2.7 µm in the as deposited case to 0.4 in
water micro-blasting one at 0.6MPa, affects negatively the cutting performance of the coated
tools.
Similar investigations, concerning the effect of water micro-blasting on the wear behavior of
coated tools, were conducted in the case of AlTiN films, deposited on cemented carbides. As it
can be observed in Figure 8a, water micro-blasting decreases the maximum obtained indenta-
tion depth. However, the water micro-blasting procedure was taken place in such way so that
the coating thickness on the cutting edge to remain almost invariable (Figure 8b). Thus, the
coated insert subjected to water micro-blasting exhibited a better cutting performance compared
to the as deposited one, reaching a tool life of 110x103 cuts up to a flank wear width of approxi-
mately 0.2 mm (see Figure 8c) for the cutting speed of 200 m/min.

Figure 8: a:) Nanohardness measurements, b:) Characteristic parameters and c:) Flank wear
development versus the number of cuts for the examined cases.

5. CONCLUSIONS

In the present paper the effect of PVD films’ water micro-blasting on the cutting performance of
coated tools was investigated. According to the obtained results, water micro-blasting on PVD
films improves coating strength properties. It has to be pointed out that the enhancement of the
coating strength properties is larger than the corresponding one occurring after the conduct of
dry micro-blasting under the same conditions. On the other hand, a significant decrease of the
coating thickness on the cutting edge may occur, especially at higher pressures, affecting dras-
tically the coated tool lifetime. Hence, extreme caution should be applied during the water micro-
blasting in order the coating thickness on the rake to remain invariable.

148 7th Coatings – 2008

6. REFERENCES

1. E. Bouzakis, Steigerung der Leistungsfähigkeit PVD-beschichteter Hartmetallwerkzeuge

durch Strahlbehandlung. Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, 2008.
2. F. Klocke, T. Schroeder, E. Bouzakis, A. Klein, Manipulation of coating and subsurface
properties in reconditioning of WC–Co carbide cutting tools, Surface and Coatings Technol-
ogy, 202 (2003) 1194-1198.
3. K.–D. Bouzakis, N. Michailidis, S. Hadjiyiannis, G. Skordaris, G. Erkens, The effect of the
specimen roughness and the indenter tip geometry on the determination accuracy of thin
hard coatings stress-strain laws by means of nanoindentations, Materials Characterization,
49 (2003) 149-156.
4. K.-D. Bouzakis, S. Hadjiyiannis, G. Skordaris, I. Mirisidis, N. Michailidis G. Erkens, Wear
development on cemented carbides inserts, coated with variable film thickness in the cutting
wedge region, Surface and Coatings Technology, 188-189 (2004) 636-643.
5. K.-D. Bouzakis, N. Michailidis, G. Skordaris, S. Kombogiannis, S. Hadjiyiannis, K. Ef-
stathiou, E. Pavlidou, G. Erkens, S. Rambadt, I. Wirth, Optimization of the cutting edge
roundness and its manufacturing procedures of cemented carbide inserts, to improve their
milling performance after a PVD coating deposition, Surface and Coatings Technology, 163-
164 (2003) 625-630.

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