Coatings made of tungsten carbide and tantalum carbide for machining tools

F.E. Palomar
a
, P.C. Zambrano
a,
*
, M.I. Go mez
b
, R. Cola s
a
, M.P. Guerrero
a
, A. Castillo
a
a
Facultad de Ingenier a Mecanica y Electrica, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, A.P. 149-F, 66451 San Nicolas de los Garza, N.L., Mexico
b
Facultad de Ciencias Qu micas, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, A.P. 149-F, 66451 San Nicolas de los Garza, N.L., Mexico
Keywords:
Coated lms
WC
TaC
Machining tools
a b s t r a c t
Continuous evolution of cutting parameters has been a constant requirement for the manufacture of
machining tools. This has promoted the development of new technologies to reduce the production time
as well as cost without affecting the competitiveness. In the present work, high speed tools have been
coated with WC and TaC by means of chemical vapour deposition and tested in a high speed milling
machine. Damages on the tips of these cutting tools were analysed by scanning electron microscope.
These observations show that the coating is heterogeneous and affected by the type and composition of
various phases formed. Results indicate that the coating made from WC is more highly resistant to
attrition than that made of TaC. Surfaces that have been machined by the coated tools are evaluated by
means of the average roughness parameter
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The recent state of industrial development demands an
improvement in production techniques, as they are of paramount
importance for technical progress. Efcient production and high
performance depends on the technological approaches used.
Requirements for high machining rates, low energy consump-
tion, together with the criteria for sample accuracy, roughness
and quality have become critical for a wide range of materials
used to manufacture various commercial products. Increase in
strength, wear resistance and hardness of these materials leads
to an increase in the difculty in machining. With these condi-
tions, the need for new cutting tool materials has gained high
importance [1].
The transition metal carbides from Groups IV and VI have
extremely high melting points and they are referred as refractory
carbides. In addition to their stability at high temperatures, these
compounds are extremely hard, and are ideal for their industrial
use in cutting tools and wear-resistant parts maintaining their
hardness at very high temperatures. Their chemical reactivity when
attacked by a concentrated acid or a base is low at high tempera-
tures. Tungsten carbide, WC, is commonly used to manufacture
cemented carbide tools for cutting steel, and this carbide is bonded
to a metal matrix by reacting with SiC. It exhibits a relative higher
hardness (2200 HV) and a high melting point (w2800

C).
Tungsten carbide thin lms has been used as hard protective
coatings due to their high value of hardness, corrosion resistance
and low wear properties that can be sustained up to 4000

C [2,3].
Technological interest in this material has increased recently due to
its use in WCC composite coatings [36].
Tantalum Carbide (TaC), has high temperature deformation and
an increased control of grain growth. It has a metallic lustre, found
as a dark to light brown powder, burns in air with a bright ash, and
is slightly soluble in acids. Often it is added to tungsten carbide/
cobalt (WC/Co) powder compounds to enhance the physical
properties of sintered structure. It also acts as a grain growth
inhibitor preventing the formation of large grains, thus producing
a material of optimal hardness. It is used as a coating for steel
moulds in injection moulding of aluminium alloys, as it provides
a hard, wear-resistant surface with lowfriction. Tantalumcarbide is
used in the production of sharp instruments with extreme
mechanical resistance and hardness [7].
Different processes, such as plasma spraying, physical vapour
deposition (PVD) and chemical vapour deposition (CVD) are used for
making WC coatings. Typically, CVD processes are carried out at
temperatures above 500

C, which signicantly affects the mechan-
ical properties of the substrate [36]. Sputter deposition is a PVD
process that is increasingly usedinindustrial hard-coating deposition
because it is carried out at lower temperatures and it uses non-
polluting products [8]. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is a versa-
tileprocess, whichis usedtoproducecoatings andthinlms. Avariety
of materials like metals, nitrides, carbides and carbon can be depos-
ited with this technique. CVDis widely used intooling, electronic and
corrosion industries. In general, CVD can be dened as a process in
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pzambran@me.uanl.mx (P.C. Zambrano).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Vacuum
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ vacuum
0042-207X/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.vacuum.2009.10.032
Vacuum 84 (2010) 12361239
whicha solidmaterial is depositedontoanactivatedor heatedsurface
by the chemical reaction of a vapour phase [7].
The combination of high forming pressure and high surface
friction results in signicantly higher tool wear rates than those
used to form carbon steels. This causes signicant increase in tool
maintenance, decrease in time and production costs. As a result,
PVD and CVD coatings are often applied to improve the tool
performance and increase the tool life [7]. As a single coating
cannot successfully solve all the problems, a number of factors must
be assessed before selecting a coating for a particular application.
This paper, describes the work conducted to evaluate the coatings
made by CVD on milling tools used for machining aluminium.
2. Experimental procedure
The rst stage was immersion of the substrate in different
carbide solutions, which are mixed with Si (OCH
2
CH
3
)
4
Tetraethyl
OrthoSilicate (TeOS). The deposition was carried out in a tubular
furnacewitha lowpressure whichallows the Si of the TeOSto react at
high temperatures, causing the adherence of carbide to the substrate.
The product obtained is SiC, which is a hard ceramic material. The
temperature of ceramic cutting tools increases as machining prog-
resses andtipof thetools bears bothmechanical andthermal stresses,
which makes the tip wear due to micro cracking fatigue. The type of
cutting tools is selected mainly by its hardness. The unit structure of
Si3N4is a tetrahedronwitha strong covalent bondbetweenSi and N;
therefore, hardness and wear resistance of Si
3
N
4
are very high. The
sample to be tested is AlSi casting alloy with the particular charac-
teristic of developing a multi-phase micro structure in which at least
one of them(Al) is soft and highly ductile, whereas the other-one (Si)
is considerably harder [9]. For a good surface quality, it is important
that the particles of the hard phase must be uniform and well
distributed within the soft, aluminum-based matrix [10].
Machining trials were carried out in a computer numerically
controlled (CNC) high speed milling machine (Hardinge VMC700).
The specimens machined were 75 mm wide by 130 mm long and
25 mminthickness. Thematerial was removed1 mmper pass, at feed
rate 12 000 RPM and six different cutting speeds Each mill bit was
used to machine 52 slots in different aluminium pieces. Fig. 1 shows
a piece on which 13 slots were machined. The chemical composition
of the work piece is given inTable 1. After the experimental phase, in
Fig. 1. Pieces of A319 AlSiCu castings, machined under conditions described in the
text.
Fig. 2. Comparison of roughness between tools with WC and TaC coating.
Fig. 3. High speed steel tool with WC lm.
Table 1
Nominal composition of the workpiece
A319 Composition
85.05 Al (% max)
9.0 Si (% max)
0.80 Fe (% max)
4.0 Cu (% max)
0.40 Mg (% max)
0.5 Mn (% max)
0.25 Ti (% max)
F.E. Palomar et al. / Vacuum 84 (2010) 12361239 1237
order to evaluate the performance of different tools the surface
roughness of the machined workpieces was measured with a prol-
ometer using the Ra parameter, which is the average arithmetic
deviation from the mean line of surface roughness [11].
3. Results and discussion
The plot correspondingtothe averagevalue (Ra) for 52slots, with
a condenceinterval of 95%is showninFig. 2. For eachspecimen, the
arithmetic averageRawas calculated. The surface roughness of work
pieces machined with the WC tool is better than work pieces
machined with TaC tool. Figs. 3 and 4 show tools TaC and WC
respectivelybefore machiningtests. Figs. 5and6shows thescanning
electronimages of machinedtools cut after 52slots. It canbe noticed
that the worst case corresponds to the tool coatedwith TaC. The
damage done to the cutting surface can be easily distinguished, also
it can be observed that the coating was removed in some places.
Many pores can be observed evidently on the fracture surface of
TaC material. Therefore, it can be conrmed that the proper addi-
tion of TaC can improve the density of the composite while
excessive addition can decrease the density. This may be due to an
excessive amount of pores present in the TaC tool. It is clear that the
tool with WC coating is integral after many trials. Both the tools
show wear mechanics because of the extreme cutting conditions,
but the TaC tool is mode degraded than the WC tool and the TaC
show fracture toughness.
4. Conclusions
It can be established that WC coating is better than TaC coating
for machining aluminium. Excessive addition of TaC can produce an
increased amount of pores. The reason for the damage observed on
the tip of the bit is not reected in the measured prole. The reason
is not clear and yet to be explored.
Acknowledgements
The authors of this work express their gratitude and thanks to
CONACYT and the Government of Nuevo Leon, Mexico for the
nancial support and Ternium-Hylsa especially to Jorge Chavez
Nava y Sergio Caballero who allowed to use the equipment.
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