Performance of CrCN-WS₂ hard/soft composite coated tools in dry cutting of titanium alloys

In this work, a CrCN-WS₂ hard/soft composite coating was deposited on the surface of cemented carbide cutting tools to improve the cutting performance of the tool during dry cutting titanium alloys. To analyse the improvement, the cutting performance of CrCN-WS₂ hard/soft composite coated tool (CWT) was compared to that of traditional uncoated tool (NT), CrCN hard-coated tool (CT) and WS₂ soft-coated tool (WT) at different cutting speeds. The results show that among the four cutting tools, CWT exhibited the best cutting performance. Compared to those of NT, the main cutting force F_z of CWT decreased by 21.8 %–45.4 %, the radial thrust force F_y decreased by 8.2 %–34.0 %, the adhesion height of CWT decreased by 31.0 % and the cutting temperature of CWT decreased by 6.7 %–34.8 %. It was also shown that CWT is more suitable for high-speed cutting of TC4 titanium alloy.