Wear behaviour of HIPIMS coated micro-milling tools with cutting edge preparation for machining steel moulds

Micro-milling is an appropriate process for the industrial production of precision parts in the mould and die industry. Decisive for a long tool life is the wear resistance, which can be improved by cutting edge preparation technologies and tool coatings. Especially the improvement of the coating technology with the high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) provides improved tool wear behaviour and longer path length lc. Further studies compare two different HIPIMS-coatings of micro-milling tools for machining the mould steel X13NiMnCuAl4-2-1-1. Furthermore, the tool wear could be reduced due to cutting edge preparation using immersed tumbling process. In consequence of the increased cutting edge radii rβ the measured active forces Fa increased slightly. Best results were achieved for micro-milling tools with cutting edge preparation and AlTiN coating.