Dual Ion Beam Deposition of Nano Anti-Wear Coatings for Precision Micro Cutting Tools

The miniaturization of components is an unbroken trend in many industrial sectors, such as medical technology, automotive engineering, aerospace, tool and mold manufacturing as well as microelectronics. A major cost factor in the production of these components is the limited lifespan of the tools due to high wear. Standard coating processes such as CVD (chemical vapor deposition) and PVD (physical vapor deposition) can extend the service life. However, these coating processes produce layer thicknesses in the µm range, which result in rounded cutting edges that lead to significant quality deficiencies for sub-mm drill diameters.

New coating solutions are required to produce layers that meet the following requirements:

• Very small coating thickness to avoid rounding of the cutting edges
• Uniform layer thickness, especially along the cutting edges
• High coating thickness uniformity over a large number of tools
• Hard coatings for low wear
• Good adhesion to the tools, because premature chipping of the coatings would significantly shorten the lifetime of the tools compared to uniform abrasion caused by wear
• Heat resistance, as high cutting speeds lead to significant heating of the tool material
• Cost-effective, so that the coatings are as economical as possible

As part of the “NanoTools” joint project, it has been demonstrated that both atomic layer deposition (ALD) and dual ion beam deposition (DIBD) are capable of producing thin coatings that lead to an increase in service life of up to 6 times by investigating Al₂O₃ coatings on commercial drills with diameters of 3 mm and 0.3 mm. (see also news of 2017-06-02)

Based on these results, the aim of the follow-up project ENAL (Einsatz Nano­beschichteter Werkzeuge in der Leiter­plattenfertigung - Use of Nanocoated Tools in PCB Manufacturing) was to carry out extensive, near-production tests on micro tools to develop a new generation of coated micro cutting tools with nano wear protection coatings, thus reducing the manufacturing costs of various cutting tools used for fine or micro machining.