Tribological characterization of electrostatically developed Al2O3 coated cutting tool material

Abstract

Wear mechanism plays a dominant part in minimizing the tool life in the course of machining difficult to machine materials. Issues related to wear mechanisms, namely spring back, variation in chips, and high-pressure loads, are accountable for tool wear. For machining numerous tool materials are not suitable due to volume specific heat and low thermal conductivity, which results in high cutting temperature. To address the above problem, electrostatic spray coating (ESC) coating technology is used to form Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) coating to enhance the life of cutting tool material. Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) having high hardness and chemical inertness will serve as a thermal barrier coating. This research work focuses on the effects of Al2O3 coating on the tool-workpiece interface. ESC technique was utilized for coating the Tungsten Carbide pin specimen with Al2O3. Utilizing the pin-on-disc tribometer, the wear and friction behavior of coatings were examined. Disc material being Ti-6Al-4V and pin (tungsten carbide) coated with Al2O3 were used to execute the dry sliding wear test at ambient atmosphere. The parameters, such as coefficient of friction, temperature, wear rate, and mass loss, were considered in this article. The performance metrics were analyzed from friction coefficient and frictional torque values obtained after the completion of tribological test from the pin on disc tribometer. Considerable endurance towards temperature and wear has been accomplished by Al2O3 coating.