Hard coatings comprising cubic phase forming compositions
AssigneeKennametal Inc.
InventorsVineet Kumar, Ronald Penich, Yixiong Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Refractory coatings for cutting tool applications and methods of making the same are described herein which, in some embodiments, permit incorporation of increased levels of aluminum into nitride coatings while reducing or maintaining levels of hexagonal phase in such coatings. Coatings and methods described herein, for example, employ cubic phase forming compositions for limiting hexagonal phase in nitride coatings of high aluminum content.
Claims23
A coated cutting tool comprising:
- a substrate;
- and
- a coating adhered to the substrate, the coating including a refractory layer comprising a plurality of sublayer groups, a sublayer group comprising a cubic phase forming nanolayer and an adjacent nanolayer of M1-xAlxN wherein x≧0.5 and M is titanium or chromium, the refractory layer having 0.5 to 15 weight percent hexagonal phase.
A method of making a coated cutting tool comprising:
- providing a cutting tool substrate;
- and
- depositing over a surface of the cutting tool substrate a coating including a refractory layer comprising a plurality of sublayer groups, a sublayer group comprising a cubic phase forming nanolayer and an adjacent nanolayer of M1-xAlxN wherein x≧0.5 and M is titanium or chromium, the refractory layer deposited by physical vapor deposition and having 0.5 to 15 weight percent hexagonal phase.
A method of enhancing performance of a refractory coating for cutting tool applications comprising:
- increasing aluminum content of M1-xAlxN nanolayers of the refractory coating to a value of x≧0.5, wherein M is titanium or chromium;
- and
- maintaining 0.5 to 15 weight percent hexagonal phase in the refractory coating by depositing the M1-xAlxN nanolayers on cubic phase forming layers by physical vapor deposition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.