Structures and properties of TiAlCrN coatings deposited on Ti(C,N)-based cermets with various WC contents

In this paper, the Ti(C,N)-based cermets with various WC contents were used as the substrates of TiAlCrN coatings. The influence of WC addition on the structures and properties of the coatings was investigated. Besides, cutting tests on the coated cermet inserts were conducted under different conditions. The results indicated that the cermet substrates with finer grains provided more nucleation to the coatings. The grain size of the coating decreased with increasing WC contents in the substrate. W diffused from the substrates to coatings, which deteriorated the adhesion between TiAlCrN coatings and the cermet substrates. The coated cermet inserts presented better cutting performance, when WC was added to the substrates. However, the cutting performance of the coated cermet inserts was weaken when the addition of WC was more than 10 wt%.