An experimental investigation of TiN coating on cutting force and surface finish in milling of aluminium

Abstract

The milling technique is one of the widely used processes in the industry. Rapid failures of tool, poor surface quality, large cutting force etc. are the major issues with the use of conventional milling tool. To overcome this coatings of hard material of nanometers in thickness on cutting tool improves its hardness and mechanical strength. Coating on cutting tools can be done by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and Physical vapour deposition (PVD). In this study PVD technique is used for depositing thin film on stainless steel milling tool as by this method cutting edge strength is maintained and produce smooth surface of the coating. The aim of this study is to investigate machining performance of titanium nitride (TiN) coated tool during milling of aluminium. The DC power of titanium was considered as 250 and 300 W. The phase identification of coatings developed was done by using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The end milling operations under dry conditions is carried out using uncoated and uncoated mill bit at different spindle speeds to investigate the machining performance on cutting forces and surface finish. It is observed that TiN coating had a better machining performance in comparison with conventional tool. Coating minimizes the cutting force nearly by 30% and reduced the surface roughness.