Structure and Properties of the Multicomponent and Nanostructural Coatings on the Sintered Tool Materials

This chapter presents a general characteristic of sintered tool materials, in particular sintered sialons, nitride ceramics, injection-moulded ceramic-metallic tool materials and cemented carbides and a general characteristic of their surface treatment technology and especially chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and physical vapour deposition (PVD) techniques. The results of our investigations in technology foresight methods concerning the development prospects of surface engineering of sintered tool materials are presented. In the next subsection, we discuss the outcomes of multifaceted research carried out with advanced materials engineering methods, including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, into the structure and properties of multicomponent, graded and multilayer coatings on the investigated tool materials, including the newly developed injection moulded ceramic-metallic tool materials. Special attention was drawn to a one-dimensional structure of the studied PVD and CVD coatings and its impact on the properties of coatings

Laser Micro-Texturing of Sintered Tool Materials Surface

The purpose of this paper is to show the effect of tool materials surface treatment while using laser texturing on the structure and properties of cemented carbides and sialon ceramics. The tests were made on multi-point inserts subjected laser texturization and honeycomb-like texture was obtained. Comprehensive investigations in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) were made. Morphology was examined by the use of atomic forces microscope (AFM) and confocal microscope. The chemical composition of the tested materials using energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) was investigated. Moreover, exploitative properties, including wear resistance using the "pin on disc" method and roughness, were also tested. It was found that the laser texturing provides a suitable modification of the structure improving tribological properties. Tests suggest that laser texturing can contribute to the durability of cutting tool’s edge, which qualifies this type of surface treatment for wide industrial applications