The Influence of Bias Voltage and Gas Pressure on Edge Covering during the Arc-PVD Deposition of Hard Coatings

The edge area is especially essential for cutting tools, since this is the contact zone between the work piece and the tool. Hard coatings (PVD or CVD coatings) can protect the edge against wear and they are commonly used. The geometries of the cutting edges change during the coating process, with the edge radius increasing. Therefore, the film thickness is limited and the initial radius of the uncoated tool must be smaller than the target radius of the coated edge. A new coating process based on vacuum arc PVD was developed to overcome this limitation. The film growth at the edges can be properly controlled by means of selected coating materials and process conditions. Thus, it is possible to grow edges sharper than the initial edge geometry. Different substrates were coated with different coating systems. Parameters such as the bias voltage, coating pressure, and initial radius were varied within this work. It was found that the application of a bias voltage is crucial for the generation of sharp edges. It was also found that the edge sharpening caused by coatings works best on samples with an initial radius of around 15 µm.