Development and Machining Performance of Titanium Nitride-Molybdenum Disulphide Composite Coated Tools using Pulsed DC Closed-Field Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

Coated cutting tools can provide immense benefit to the machining industry by providing longer tool life, higher productivity and improved product quality. Ideally the coating should have good adhesion with the substrate, be chemically inert, have hot hardness and possess excellent anti-friction property. MoS2 is considered to be an excellent solid lubricant coating, but its application is restricted to vacuum environment as it degrades under high humidity and possesses rather low hardness. TiN, on the other hand, is one of the most widely used hard coatings for cutting tools. It also shows resistance to oxidation at elevated temperature. Since it is difficult to find any single material having all of these properties, one may follow the route of composite coating.