INFLUENCE OF THE THIN LAYERS THICKNESS, DEPOSITED BY PVD METHOD ON DURABILITY OF THE CUTTING INSERTS

Deposition of some materials as thin layers on cutting tools, to increase the wear resistance of these, has become a major interest for the cutting tool industry in recent years. Coating the cutting inserts with some different materials improves their wear resistance and prolongs the life. There are known many researches concerning the cutting inserts coated with materials by the vacuum deposition, using methods as: physical vapor deposition (vacuum thermal evaporation and condensation from the vapor phase, ionic plating and pulverization) or chemical vapor deposition. In this study it is measured the influence of coatings thickness deposited by the physical vapor deposition (PVD), namely by ionic plating method on the machining performance of the cutting inserts.