Cutting performance and wear characteristics of Al2O3/TiC ceramic cutting tools with WS2/Zr soft-coatings and nano-textures in dry cutting

• WS2/Zr coated Al2O3/TiC cutting tools with and without nano-textures were made.
• The cutting performance and tool wear of developed tools were improved.
• The tools combined with nano-textures and WS2/Zr coatings were the most effective.
• The lubricity has a strong correlation with geometries of textures.
• The wear characteristics of different tools were elaborated.

To improve the cutting performance and reduce the tool wear, novel Al2O3/TiC cutting tools were developed with coating and laser technologies: first, the WS2/Zr coated Al2O3/TiC ceramic cutting tool; second, nano-textured Al2O3/TiC ceramic cutting tools deposited with WS2/Zr composite soft-coatings. Dry cutting tests were carried out on hardened steel with the conventional and developed tools. The cutting force, cutting temperature, friction coefficient, and tool wear were measured. Results show that the WS2/Zr coated Al2O3/TiC cutting tools with and without nano-textures significantly improve the lubricity at the tool-chip interface; the cutting force, cutting temperature, friction coefficient and tool wear are reduced compared with the conventional tools; the nano-textured tools deposited with WS2/Zr composite soft-coatings are the most effective. In addition, the geometry of nano-textures has a profound effect on the lubricity, the WS2/Zr coated cutting tool with areal nano-textures is the most effective in improving the cutting performance and reducing the tool wear. The abrasive wear, chipping and adhesions are the predominant wear characteristics of conventional tools, the abrasive wear and coating flaking is for coated tools, and the adhesions at the tool tip is mainly for the coated tools with nano-textures.