Geometrical aspects of ion beam and plasma-based stripping processes for refurbishing cutting tools

Abstract

Stripping of hard coatings is an essential technological step in the refurbishment of various cutting tools, such as carbide drills, endmills, routers, etc. The dry ion etching method of coating stripping may give significant advantages over conventional wet chemical etching. In this work, a novel ion plasma and ion beam-based method of film stripping are discussed in terms of etching uniformity. Thin film etching rate distribution is experimentally studied over the transverse cross-section of TiN and TiAlCrN coated drill bits. Furthermore the results are discussed in terms of simplified mathematical models of the film removal by ion sputtering. Advantages of the directional ion beam method over the field driven plasma immersion method are concluded.