Tribological characterization of PVD TiSiN/AlCrN coating: A comprehensive study on thermal effect

PVD-coated tools are used mainly in metal-cutting operations. During the machining processes, the tool's temperature can rise to 1000 °C. For this reason, it is important to understand how coated cutting tools behave under such harsh circumstances. This research aims to evaluate the temperature effect on the tribological behavior of TiSiN/AlCrN CAE/PVD coating on cemented WC-Co disks submitted to high temperatures. The wear tests were done using the ball-on-disk sliding method. The coated samples were tested at 20 °C, 500 °C, and 800 °C. The results showed a change in the wear mechanism when the temperature was raised to 800 °C. The tests indicate abrasive wear when samples were tested at 20 °C and 500 °C. On the other hand, the samples tested at 800 °C showed an oxidative wear mechanism. The oxidative wear mechanism increased the wear rate significantly compared to the abrasive wear at lower temperatures, despite reducing the friction coefficient due to the titanium oxide formation. Raman and XRD measurements were conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the coating atomic phases and to study the tribological characteristics of the coatings with thermal effects.