Coated cutting tool and method of making the same

Method of manufacturing a coated cutting tool comprising a substrate and a coating on the surface of the substrate, the method comprising the steps of:

• depositing a multilayer structure consisting of alternating layers A and B forming the sequence A/B/A/B/A . . . with an individual layer thickness of layer A and layer B of 1-30 nm forming at least part of the coating, layer A consisting of Zr1−xAlxN, where 0<x<1, and layer B consisting of TiN;
• and
• heat treating the coating in an area being used in a cutting operation to form an intermediate layer C between said alternating layers A and B so as to form the sequence A/C/B/C/A/C/B . . . , layer C comprising one or more metal elements from each of said alternating layers A and B.

A coated cutting tool comprising a substrate and a coating on the substrate, wherein said coating comprises a multilayer structure, whereby said multilayer structure comprises:

• alternating layers A and B;
• and
• in an area being used in a cutting operation the multilayer structure consists of alternating layers A and B and an intermediate layer C between said alternating layers A and B forming the sequence A/C/B/C/A/C/B . . . with an individual layer thickness of layer A and layer B of 1-30 nm, whereby layer A consists of Zr1−xAlxN, where 0<x<1, and layer B consists of TiN and whereby layer C comprises one or more metal elements from each of layers A and B and is of different composition and structure than layers A and B.