Influence of PVD-coating technology and pretreatments on residual stresses for sheet-bulk metal forming tools

Abstract

Residual stresses in the substrate material are significantly influencing the performance of PVD-coated parts and tools which are exposed to high forces. Especially for forming operations, such as sheet-bulk metal forming, during which normal contact pressures of 1.4 GPa can occur, the reduction of friction and, at the same time, the wear protection by means of thin Cr-based coatings are essential. To ensure a long service life of forming tool and tool coating, each step of the substrate pre-treatment, as well as the magnetron-sputtering process, has to be coordinated and compatible. Therefore, polished as well as nitrided samples consisting of high-speed steel (AISI M3:2) are exposed to a sequence of plasma-based pre-treatments prior to depositing a CrAlN coating. Hardness and Young’s modulus of the substrate and the coating are analysed by means of nanoindentation. To determine the adhesion between coating and substrate, scratch tests are conducted and analysed using a scanning electron microscope. For each step, the residual stresses are determined using sin2ψ measurements, which are correlated to the mechanical properties. A plasma-nitriding process before the CrAlN coating induces high compressive residual stresses into the sample subsurface and at the same time increases the hardness of the surface. This results in higher critical loads during the scratch tests and therefore a better adhesion of the coating on the substrate.