Improved adhesion and cutting performance of AlTiSiN coatings by tuning substrate bias voltage combined with Ar ion cleaning pre-treatment

High-energy Ar+ cleaning pre-treatment was used to enhance the adhesion strength of AlTiSiN composite coatings to a cemented carbide substrate. Then, AlTiSiN composite coatings with various substrate bias voltages were deposited. Adhesion, friction, wear and milling performance against DC53 die steel of the AlTiSiN coatings were investigated. Microstructure results showed that AlTiSiN composite coatings were comprised of the columnar AlTiN transition layer and top Nano crystalline AlTiSiN working coating. Surface roughness, friction coefficients and the wear rate of the AlTiSiN coatings decreased with increasing substrate bias voltages. The AlTiSiN coatings deposited at -80 V showed higher cutting lengths of 27 m, which was ascribed to their high bond strength These results showed that excellent adhesion strength and cutting performance of coating coated tools could be achieved by tuning the substrate bias voltage combined with high-energy Ar ion cleaning pretreatment of the substrate.