Abstract
The tool life in turning sintered steels becomes shorter than that in turning of melted steels such as carbon steels. In order to clarify an effective tool material for the cutting of sintered steel, the tool wear was experimentally investigated. The sintered steel was turned with two kinds of PVD coated cemented carbide tools. The coating films used were (Ti, Al)N and (Al, Cr)N. (Al, Cr)N is a new type of coating film. The main results obtained are as follows: (1) The wear progress of (Al, Cr)N coated cemented carbide tool was slower than that of (Ti, Al)N coated cemented carbide tool. (2) The (Al, Cr)N coating film exhibited both higher hardness and higher oxidation temperature. (3) In case of cutting sintered steel with (Al, Cr)N coated cemented carbide tool, it is considered that because the coefficient of friction of the (Al, Cr)N coating film is lower, the cutting temperature becomes lower, and the wear progress became slower.
As mentioned above, it was clear that the (Al, Cr)N coated cemented carbide is an effective tool material in cutting sintered steel.
