1. introduction
Since Balzers invested in its physical coating tools in 1980, the application and development of this technology in Europe has played a pivotal role in the world for decades. With the advent of the era of high-speed machining in modern machinery processing industry, the world Countries are also paying more attention to the application and development of coating technology. European tool coating technology has been widely developed since the mid-1980s, especially physical coating technology, which can be said to represent the highest level in the world. At present, there are more than ten physical coating equipment manufacturers in Europe, and more than 60 coating service centers, mainly using cathodic arc and magnetron sputtering technology. In the machinery industry, developed countries have developed a complete service system.
2. Latest status of European tool coating technology
At present, the coating equipment manufacturing and service companies in Europe that are more influential in the field of tool coating include Balzers, Plat, Switzerland, CemeCon, PVT, Metaplas (the company is headquartered in the US), etc. The latest status is described below.
2.1 Balzers
Balzers is currently the world's largest tool coating company. Since the 1970s, it has been engaged in the development of physical coating technology, focusing on tools, precision parts coating and decorative coating. In 1980, it launched a hot cathode ion coating machine. BAI830, completed the development of complete sets of technology, successfully applied to high-speed steel tool coating and reached the level of industrial production. In the course of more than 20 years of development, the company has been adhering to the guidelines for equipment manufacturing, complete technology transfer and coating services. The equipment developed mainly includes BAI830, BAI830C, BAI730D, BAIl200, RCS, including CVD technology and PVD technology. Two types, but currently PVD mainly uses BAIl200, RCS equipment, which is mainly based on cathodic arc technology, and can also be coated with WC/C film by adding magnetron sputtering target. So far, Balzers has opened 57 coating service centers around the world with more than 400 coating equipment.
BAIl200 and RCS adopt circular planar cathode target technology and radiant heating technology for rapid coating production. The company pays more attention to the development of new coated film materials. BALINIT A, BALINIT B, BALINIT D are currently available in this type of equipment. , BALINIT FUTURA NANO, BALINIT X.TREME, BALINIT HARDLUBE, BALINIT X.CEED and other thin film coatings, currently the most representative coatings are FUTURA NANO and X.CEED. FUTURA NANO is a nano-multilayer TiAIN film. It is said that the latest technology can reach hundreds of layers. This coating is suitable for high speed steel and hard alloy materials for high speed machining of drilling, turning or dry cutting. X.CEED is a single-layer TiA1N. Unlike traditional coatings, this coating process for carbide tools allows the tool to have excellent red hardness and oxidation resistance even in Under the harsh processing conditions, the film and the substrate still have good bonding strength, so it can be adapted to the interrupted cutting processing method. The coating can be used for processing titanium alloy, indium chrome-nickel alloy and other materials, and the hardness of the material to be processed. Can reach 52HRC.
At present, the most representative coating of Balzers is a titanium-free coating called G6, which is AlCrN coating. Compared with traditional TiN, TiCN and TiAlN, G6 has higher red hardness and oxidation resistance and can reach 1000 °C. This coating process is suitable for coating of cemented carbide and high speed steel materials for milling. And turning, cutting speed can reach more than 400m / min. It is said that this type of coating is not only suitable for finishing, but also for roughing. In a certain way, it broadens the application field of PVD.
2.2 Switzerland Platit Coatings
Platt, Switzerland, is a well-known tool coating company that has emerged in recent years. It is a member of the BCI Group and is part of W Blosch AG. Founded in 1947, W Blosch is mainly engaged in the gold plating and gemstone industry of the case; the PVD (Physical Coating) Division was established in 1977; the vacuum deposition production plant was established in 1979; the production of hard films began in 1985; The PLATIT brand; the first coating equipment was assembled in 1992; in 2000, on the basis of PL50 and PL200, a complete coating system was established to realize the turnkey engineering capability; in 2002, the nanostructure coating was developed and developed. Rotating target π80 coating equipment was produced; in 2003, nACoR nanostructure coating reached industrial application level.
As of 2004, Platit produced approximately 100 coating equipment. Platit has coating processing centers in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the United States, Hong Kong, Spain, Scandinacia, and its coating equipment has five series: iPL50, PL200, MO200, PL1000 and π80. The application fields mainly involve cutting tools, molds and wear-resistant. Parts.
Platit mainly uses rectangular large-area planar target cathodic arc coating technology, which originated in the mid-1990s, so that each cathode target completely covers the effective coating area, and the maximum target height can reach 800mm, which has been successfully solved. The arc control technology can greatly improve the uniformity of the coating in the vacuum furnace compared with the similar technology. Generally, the inhomogeneity in the furnace can be controlled within 10%, and the absolute deviation is less than 0.5 μm.
The company's π80 coating equipment developed in 2002 is uniquely innovative. The π80 device is quite different from the traditional coating equipment. Firstly, the concept of nanostructured film is introduced. Taking the (nc-Ti1-xAlxN)/(αSi3N4) nanocomposite phase structure film as an example, under the action of strong plasma, nanometer The TiAlN crystal is embedded in the amorphous Si3N4. This structure makes the film hardness 50 GPa, and the high temperature hardness is very prominent. When the temperature reaches 1200 ° C, the hardness value can still be maintained at 30 GPa; Although the cathodic arc technology is still used in industrial production equipment, the evaporation source has been transformed from the original planar form into a rotatable cylindrical target. The benefits may be multi-faceted, such as automatic cleaning and target utilization. The rate is high, the surface roughness of the coating can reach Ra0.02～0.03μm (usually the coating is about 0.1μm Ra), and π80 can be used for TiN, TiAlN, AlTiN, nACo, TiCN-Mp, etc., like other conventional coating equipment. TiAlCN, CrN, ZrN, DLC and other coatings.
2.3 CemeCon Coating Company
CemeCon is a company specializing in coating technology development and coating services. Founded in 1986, it developed and manufactured the first CC800 PVD coating equipment in 1988 and has coating processing in Germany, the United States, Denmark and China. Service Center. The company currently produces three types of PVD coating equipment, namely SX, ML, XL, and about 90 units of equipment sales so far.
CemeCon uses magnetron sputtering ion plating technology, which combines the advantages of hollow cathode ion plating and cathodic arc ion plating. The coating structure is dense, and large-area rectangular target technology is also selected, which further ensures Uniformity of the coating; this technique can be applied to a variety of single, multi-layer or composite films such as TiN, TiC, TiCN, ZrN, CrN, WC/C, MoS2, TiAlN, TiAlCN, TiN-AlN, CBN, AlO Wait. The HIS magnetron sputtering technology developed by CemeCon has successfully solved many key technical problems in the practical application of magnetron sputtering ion plating technology, such as ionization rate, ion energy improvement, etc. It has reached the level of industrial production. From the analysis of our understanding, the coating technology has the characteristics of dense film structure, uniform coating and good product consistency, especially suitable for coating processing of indexable inserts and small and medium size cutters.
CemeCon's latest process technology is HIP technology, based on the principle of bipolar pulse, based on this, the SUPERTIN coating, a dense cubic lattice super nitride, which is processed under medium cutting conditions, is used to process stainless steel or non-ferrous metals. Compared with traditional titanium nitride, TITALOX is a high-speed processing hard film developed by this technology. In addition to high surface hardness, it also has good high temperature resistance. The temperature can also reach 1000 ° C, which can be used for cutting of cast iron, stainless steel and high temperature alloy. It is also because of the successful development of HIP technology that makes AlOX coating possible. This non-conductor thin film material has excellent high temperature performance. How to realize alumina coating by PVD method has always been a concern of the industry, and HIP technology A possible solution is provided for the solution of this problem. The company's newly developed Al2O3 film coating, coating temperature below 450 ° C, different from the previous concept, its HIP AlOx coating based on HIS TiAlN film, and in the test of cast iron and high performance alloy materials Satisfactory results have made PVD AlO coating a reality, and laid the foundation for the development of physical coating technology to semi-finishing or roughing, and also established a future development direction of PVD.
In addition, the company proposed the concept of lubricating film coating. In the TiAlBN structure of the film, the change of boron content adapts to the change of cutting conditions, and the so-called "insitu" phenomenon occurs during the processing, that is, the diffusion of boron to the surface. BN and B2N3 are formed, thereby obtaining a lubricating film layer which is advantageous for cutting.
In addition, another unique technology of CemeCon is CVD diamond coating technology. In 2000, the CCDia production line was established to make the diamond coating technology reach the level of industrial production. With high technical content, it can mass produce diamond transparent film.
2.4 PVT Coating Company
PVT Coatings is also a professional tool coating company that emerged in the mid-1980s and is capable of processing a wide range of tools and molds. PVT is mainly engaged in the sales of coating equipment. Currently, there are four types of coating equipment mainly developed: S2, M2, L3, and L4. In recent years, about 20 units have been sold.
The company also uses large-area rectangular cathodic arc evaporation technology, similar to Platit coating technology, mainly for TiN, TiCN, AlTiN, ZrN, CrN coating. The company has great characteristics in plasma etching and cleaning process development, and pays attention to the research of film-substrate bonding structure. The coating bonding strength is ideal. In addition, the company also attaches great importance to the improvement of production efficiency and greatly increases the pumping rate. At the same time, the cooling cycle is shortened by the strong cooling method, thereby improving the production efficiency; the friction coefficient of the film surface is further reduced by the additional PLC lubrication film technology.
PVT coating technology and equipment have won a number of patented technologies in China, the United States, Europe, Japan and other worlds. Its patented technologies include new arc evaporation sources, arc plasma conduction devices, substrate processing technologies and devices. The dynamic electromagnetic control evaporator optimizes the arc control, so that each part of the target can obtain the same intensity of arc, uniform evaporation and ionization, and the target ionization rate is as high as 85% or more, which solves the particle or "droplet" well. "The problem is that the coating microstructure is very fine and the coating surface is bright. The unique etching and cleaning technology of the substrate allows the coating to be completely and thoroughly cleaned before being deposited on the workpiece, so that the bond between the coating and the substrate reaches the desired index. After the new etching technique, the boundary between the film and the substrate is no longer obvious, and the film has been integrated with the substrate.
In addition, PVD can also perform unique PLC (polymer like carbon) metallurgical lubrication film deposition to further reduce the surface of the coating without additional cost and without additional coating production time. Coefficient of friction. For example, after adding a PLC coating to the AlTiN coating, the life of the coated tool can be increased for different applications.
2.5 Metaplas Ionon
The company was founded in 1984 and established an independent coating center in Bevgisch Gladbach, Germany in 1987, mainly based on MAXIT wear-resistant coatings. It was purchased by Balche Durr AG in 1991 and established Babcock Borsig AG. In 1992, it began manufacturing equipment and expanded coating services. In 1997, it acquired Klocknev Ionon GmbH and expanded its business scope to plasma nitriding, ie IONIT. R wear protection, patented IONIT OX R in 1997, registered with METALEUROP Coating Technology GmbH in 1999, and extended to the field of decorative coatings. In 2001, the company was acquired by Swiss company Sulzer. In 2002, Bergisch Gladbach's IONIT and IONIT OX production scale was expanded to become the largest industrial plasma surface treatment manufacturer. In 2003, he merged with the former DB film company in the United States and began to work on MAXIT, IONIT, and IONITOX production services.
Metaplas Ionon's MAXIT PVD coating standard system is available in six sizes from MZR303, MZR323, MZR333, MZR343, MZR373 to MZR393. The hard coat evaporator is a circular cathode arc target up to 24; the soft coating is The rectangular evaporator is coated by sputtering and the workpiece is heated externally. TiN, TiCN, AlTiN, ZrN, CrN hard coat and WC:H soft coat can be performed.
Although Metaplas has used a small area of ​​cathode arc target technology, its patented AEDD (Arc Enhanced Glow Discharge) technology has made this traditional technology a great breakthrough in technology. Taking the aluminum-titanium-titanium coating as an example, the AlTiN-saturn coating developed by it has a clear difference from the conventional coating. The film has a fine structure and a non-columnar crystal structure, and the surface has almost no "droplet" phenomenon. The Ra value can be less than 0.15 μm, and its use temperature is higher than 900 ° C, which is suitable for high speed and dry cutting. In addition, in applications where the surface of the coated tool has high lubricity requirements, such as drilling and threading, a layer of WC:H film can be coated on the same equipment by magnetron sputtering to improve its performance.
Another notable feature of Metaplas is the large size of the coating equipment. Its 24 target coating equipment can be coated with broaches or similar parts up to 4m in length to achieve industrial applications.
Metaplas mainly focuses on coating processing services, including tools, molds and wear parts, including hobs, rotary cutters, alloy blades, broaches, screw and press rolls, plastic pusher worms, etc. PVD equipment sales, 11 sets of equipment have been sold in the last 3 years.
3. Current development characteristics of PVD tool coating technology
It can be seen from the above analysis that in the industrialized countries, people pay more and more attention to the development of coating technology, and physical coating technology is more popular. It should be affirmed that PVD is in a high-speed development stage in recent years. It can be summarized as follows: the arrival of the era of high-speed machining has brought a good opportunity for its development; composite materials can not only greatly improve the utilization of resources, but also greatly expand the function of components, so It is more accepted by people; in addition, as people's awareness of environmental protection has increased, the development of this technology has broadened the application space.
After more than 30 years of development, physical coating has become a key technology in the tool manufacturing industry. It is currently in a period of vigorous development. Its development speed has surpassed people's imagination, and the development space is also unexpected. With the advancement of materials science and technology, coating technology has also evolved from single-layer film to multi-layer, gradient, nano- and nano-composite film coatings. These high-tech technologies have promoted the development of machinery manufacturing industry. People are full of good ideas for their future development.
In recent years, the development of physical coating technology has the following characteristics:
(1) Diversification of film and personalization of service
Compared with the 1990s, PVD technology entering the 21st century has undergone great changes, from a single TiN, TiCN, TiAlN to dozens of coating grades, for different cutting processing applications, The composition and structure of the film are selected, and a satisfactory cutting effect is obtained by an appropriate process. For example, in the gear processing, in addition to the strict requirements on the service life of the coated tool, how to ensure the accuracy and surface quality of the gear is also very important. Therefore, the composite film layer is generally used, namely hard coating + soft coating. Of course, the process methods for this purpose are different for different coating companies; in high-speed milling, only hard coatings are often used. In addition, the concept of personalized service has taken shape. For example, Platit's coating equipment adopts an open working mode, which can develop a more suitable coating process for different users at any time.
(2) Development of high speed and dry cutting coating technology
In high-speed machining or dry cutting process, temperature becomes the main reason that affects the service life of coating tools. Therefore, improving the high-temperature performance of the film and ensuring the red hardness of the coating tool has become a hot spot in the development of PVD technology in recent years. It is one of the effective methods to improve the nitrogen-aluminum-titanium coating and increase the content of Al in the film. Therefore, the so-called AlTiN coating (Al content is more than 50%) appears. It should be said that with the increase of Al content (within a certain range), The overall performance of the film has improved, but there are still some key technologies to be solved: how to achieve this coating in the production process, especially when the Al content exceeds 65%; how to control the crystal structure of AlN in this coating Wait. From the latest developments, coating companies have solved high-speed, high-temperature machining problems through other thin-film technologies, such as Balzers' AlCrN coating, Platit's (nc-Ti1-xAlxN)/(αSi3N4) coating, CemeCon The TINALOX coating and Metaplas' AlTiN-saturn coatings have excellent high temperature properties and have been successfully used in high speed, dry cutting applications.
(3) Improvement of the microstructure of the coated film
At present, in the PVD market, cathodic arc ion plating technology still dominates, but unlike previous companies, any company that uses cathodic arc ion plating technology attempts to improve the organization of coated films through hardware development and process adjustment. Structure to avoid the generation of "droplets" and columnar crystals. In particular, with the advent of the nano-concept, the microstructure of the cathodic arc film coating has been fundamentally improved. The Ra value of the coating surface obtained by this technique has been less than 0.15 μm, thus improving the overall performance of the cathodic arc coating. Accepted by the market.
(4) New concepts in the field of PVD coating
It is well known that PVD technology corresponds to CVD technology, which combines high strength, thick film layer and can be coated with α-Al2O3 coating, so it is more suitable for high-speed, dry roughing and half of medium and heavy cutting. Finishing field. How to use the PVD technology to develop the Al2O3 coating process, realize the thick film coating, and expand the PVD coating technology into the roughing and semi-finishing fields, which has been an urgent problem to be solved in the industry. CemeCon's research in this field has made breakthrough progress, which also indicates the arrival of a new era of PVD technology.
Another landmark is the nanocomposite coating, whose mathematical model was proposed by Professor S Veprek of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and verified under laboratory conditions. Since then, Professor S Veprek has cooperated with SHM and Platit to develop a unique cylindrical and rotary cathode arc target based on his laboratory research. The π series coating equipment is gradually reaching the industrial production level. In theory, this coating has both high microhardness and good surface quality, making it ideal for high-speed, high-precision machining.
4. Conclusion
At present, PVD coating technology in Europe has a great impact on China's market. Unlike the 1980s, these world-level coating companies have moved the most advanced technology and best service model to China. Balzers opened a coating processing center in China and established the In house service model; the same is true for PVT; and CemeCon has established its largest overseas joint venture in China, specializing in PVD coating business services.
The expectations of foreign counterparts on the domestic tool coating market have forced us to re-examine the development of this technology. The European tool coating technology started in the same way as in China, basically in the mid-1980s, and it was also developed by small and medium-sized enterprises. It can be said that it has developed to the fifth-generation technology level; and the domestic level is still in the second generation technology level. The reason is that European coating companies adhere to their own characteristics, pursue steady development, follow the market demand, establish a multi-party joint development system, and constantly introduce new technologies and new products to gradually meet the needs of the market.
At present, domestic coating research has become a hot topic. The theoretical analysis of colleges and universities is basically in line with foreign counterparts. However, how to guide industrial production and further research on new theories should cause people's thinking and attention.
The author believes that in combination with the increasingly important position of the current coating technology and extensive market demand, the development of industrialized coating application technology based on the absorption of advanced technology is still of great practical significance. From the development of the current coating technology, the technology is still in the middle of the development process. As the market demand changes, its further development space is still huge, so it is not too late to strengthen the research and development work in this field. . Referring to the development model of European companies, the organic combination of institutions and enterprises will be one of the important ways for their healthy development.
Since Balzers invested in its physical coating tools in 1980, the application and development of this technology in Europe has played a pivotal role in the world for decades. With the advent of the era of high-speed machining in modern machinery processing industry, the world Countries are also paying more attention to the application and development of coating technology. European tool coating technology has been widely developed since the mid-1980s, especially physical coating technology, which can be said to represent the highest level in the world. At present, there are more than ten physical coating equipment manufacturers in Europe, and more than 60 coating service centers, mainly using cathodic arc and magnetron sputtering technology. In the machinery industry, developed countries have developed a complete service system.
2. Latest status of European tool coating technology
At present, the coating equipment manufacturing and service companies in Europe that are more influential in the field of tool coating include Balzers, Plat, Switzerland, CemeCon, PVT, Metaplas (the company is headquartered in the US), etc. The latest status is described below.
2.1 Balzers
Balzers is currently the world's largest tool coating company. Since the 1970s, it has been engaged in the development of physical coating technology, focusing on tools, precision parts coating and decorative coating. In 1980, it launched a hot cathode ion coating machine. BAI830, completed the development of complete sets of technology, successfully applied to high-speed steel tool coating and reached the level of industrial production. In the course of more than 20 years of development, the company has been adhering to the guidelines for equipment manufacturing, complete technology transfer and coating services. The equipment developed mainly includes BAI830, BAI830C, BAI730D, BAIl200, RCS, including CVD technology and PVD technology. Two types, but currently PVD mainly uses BAIl200, RCS equipment, which is mainly based on cathodic arc technology, and can also be coated with WC/C film by adding magnetron sputtering target. So far, Balzers has opened 57 coating service centers around the world with more than 400 coating equipment.
BAIl200 and RCS adopt circular planar cathode target technology and radiant heating technology for rapid coating production. The company pays more attention to the development of new coated film materials. BALINIT A, BALINIT B, BALINIT D are currently available in this type of equipment. , BALINIT FUTURA NANO, BALINIT X.TREME, BALINIT HARDLUBE, BALINIT X.CEED and other thin film coatings, currently the most representative coatings are FUTURA NANO and X.CEED. FUTURA NANO is a nano-multilayer TiAIN film. It is said that the latest technology can reach hundreds of layers. This coating is suitable for high speed steel and hard alloy materials for high speed machining of drilling, turning or dry cutting. X.CEED is a single-layer TiA1N. Unlike traditional coatings, this coating process for carbide tools allows the tool to have excellent red hardness and oxidation resistance even in Under the harsh processing conditions, the film and the substrate still have good bonding strength, so it can be adapted to the interrupted cutting processing method. The coating can be used for processing titanium alloy, indium chrome-nickel alloy and other materials, and the hardness of the material to be processed. Can reach 52HRC.
At present, the most representative coating of Balzers is a titanium-free coating called G6, which is AlCrN coating. Compared with traditional TiN, TiCN and TiAlN, G6 has higher red hardness and oxidation resistance and can reach 1000 °C. This coating process is suitable for coating of cemented carbide and high speed steel materials for milling. And turning, cutting speed can reach more than 400m / min. It is said that this type of coating is not only suitable for finishing, but also for roughing. In a certain way, it broadens the application field of PVD.
2.2 Switzerland Platit Coatings
Platt, Switzerland, is a well-known tool coating company that has emerged in recent years. It is a member of the BCI Group and is part of W Blosch AG. Founded in 1947, W Blosch is mainly engaged in the gold plating and gemstone industry of the case; the PVD (Physical Coating) Division was established in 1977; the vacuum deposition production plant was established in 1979; the production of hard films began in 1985; The PLATIT brand; the first coating equipment was assembled in 1992; in 2000, on the basis of PL50 and PL200, a complete coating system was established to realize the turnkey engineering capability; in 2002, the nanostructure coating was developed and developed. Rotating target π80 coating equipment was produced; in 2003, nACoR nanostructure coating reached industrial application level.
As of 2004, Platit produced approximately 100 coating equipment. Platit has coating processing centers in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the United States, Hong Kong, Spain, Scandinacia, and its coating equipment has five series: iPL50, PL200, MO200, PL1000 and π80. The application fields mainly involve cutting tools, molds and wear-resistant. Parts.
Platit mainly uses rectangular large-area planar target cathodic arc coating technology, which originated in the mid-1990s, so that each cathode target completely covers the effective coating area, and the maximum target height can reach 800mm, which has been successfully solved. The arc control technology can greatly improve the uniformity of the coating in the vacuum furnace compared with the similar technology. Generally, the inhomogeneity in the furnace can be controlled within 10%, and the absolute deviation is less than 0.5 μm.
The company's π80 coating equipment developed in 2002 is uniquely innovative. The π80 device is quite different from the traditional coating equipment. Firstly, the concept of nanostructured film is introduced. Taking the (nc-Ti1-xAlxN)/(αSi3N4) nanocomposite phase structure film as an example, under the action of strong plasma, nanometer The TiAlN crystal is embedded in the amorphous Si3N4. This structure makes the film hardness 50 GPa, and the high temperature hardness is very prominent. When the temperature reaches 1200 ° C, the hardness value can still be maintained at 30 GPa; Although the cathodic arc technology is still used in industrial production equipment, the evaporation source has been transformed from the original planar form into a rotatable cylindrical target. The benefits may be multi-faceted, such as automatic cleaning and target utilization. The rate is high, the surface roughness of the coating can reach Ra0.02～0.03μm (usually the coating is about 0.1μm Ra), and π80 can be used for TiN, TiAlN, AlTiN, nACo, TiCN-Mp, etc., like other conventional coating equipment. TiAlCN, CrN, ZrN, DLC and other coatings.
2.3 CemeCon Coating Company
CemeCon is a company specializing in coating technology development and coating services. Founded in 1986, it developed and manufactured the first CC800 PVD coating equipment in 1988 and has coating processing in Germany, the United States, Denmark and China. Service Center. The company currently produces three types of PVD coating equipment, namely SX, ML, XL, and about 90 units of equipment sales so far.
CemeCon uses magnetron sputtering ion plating technology, which combines the advantages of hollow cathode ion plating and cathodic arc ion plating. The coating structure is dense, and large-area rectangular target technology is also selected, which further ensures Uniformity of the coating; this technique can be applied to a variety of single, multi-layer or composite films such as TiN, TiC, TiCN, ZrN, CrN, WC/C, MoS2, TiAlN, TiAlCN, TiN-AlN, CBN, AlO Wait. The HIS magnetron sputtering technology developed by CemeCon has successfully solved many key technical problems in the practical application of magnetron sputtering ion plating technology, such as ionization rate, ion energy improvement, etc. It has reached the level of industrial production. From the analysis of our understanding, the coating technology has the characteristics of dense film structure, uniform coating and good product consistency, especially suitable for coating processing of indexable inserts and small and medium size cutters.
CemeCon's latest process technology is HIP technology, based on the principle of bipolar pulse, based on this, the SUPERTIN coating, a dense cubic lattice super nitride, which is processed under medium cutting conditions, is used to process stainless steel or non-ferrous metals. Compared with traditional titanium nitride, TITALOX is a high-speed processing hard film developed by this technology. In addition to high surface hardness, it also has good high temperature resistance. The temperature can also reach 1000 ° C, which can be used for cutting of cast iron, stainless steel and high temperature alloy. It is also because of the successful development of HIP technology that makes AlOX coating possible. This non-conductor thin film material has excellent high temperature performance. How to realize alumina coating by PVD method has always been a concern of the industry, and HIP technology A possible solution is provided for the solution of this problem. The company's newly developed Al2O3 film coating, coating temperature below 450 ° C, different from the previous concept, its HIP AlOx coating based on HIS TiAlN film, and in the test of cast iron and high performance alloy materials Satisfactory results have made PVD AlO coating a reality, and laid the foundation for the development of physical coating technology to semi-finishing or roughing, and also established a future development direction of PVD.
In addition, the company proposed the concept of lubricating film coating. In the TiAlBN structure of the film, the change of boron content adapts to the change of cutting conditions, and the so-called "insitu" phenomenon occurs during the processing, that is, the diffusion of boron to the surface. BN and B2N3 are formed, thereby obtaining a lubricating film layer which is advantageous for cutting.
In addition, another unique technology of CemeCon is CVD diamond coating technology. In 2000, the CCDia production line was established to make the diamond coating technology reach the level of industrial production. With high technical content, it can mass produce diamond transparent film.
2.4 PVT Coating Company
PVT Coatings is also a professional tool coating company that emerged in the mid-1980s and is capable of processing a wide range of tools and molds. PVT is mainly engaged in the sales of coating equipment. Currently, there are four types of coating equipment mainly developed: S2, M2, L3, and L4. In recent years, about 20 units have been sold.
The company also uses large-area rectangular cathodic arc evaporation technology, similar to Platit coating technology, mainly for TiN, TiCN, AlTiN, ZrN, CrN coating. The company has great characteristics in plasma etching and cleaning process development, and pays attention to the research of film-substrate bonding structure. The coating bonding strength is ideal. In addition, the company also attaches great importance to the improvement of production efficiency and greatly increases the pumping rate. At the same time, the cooling cycle is shortened by the strong cooling method, thereby improving the production efficiency; the friction coefficient of the film surface is further reduced by the additional PLC lubrication film technology.
PVT coating technology and equipment have won a number of patented technologies in China, the United States, Europe, Japan and other worlds. Its patented technologies include new arc evaporation sources, arc plasma conduction devices, substrate processing technologies and devices. The dynamic electromagnetic control evaporator optimizes the arc control, so that each part of the target can obtain the same intensity of arc, uniform evaporation and ionization, and the target ionization rate is as high as 85% or more, which solves the particle or "droplet" well. "The problem is that the coating microstructure is very fine and the coating surface is bright. The unique etching and cleaning technology of the substrate allows the coating to be completely and thoroughly cleaned before being deposited on the workpiece, so that the bond between the coating and the substrate reaches the desired index. After the new etching technique, the boundary between the film and the substrate is no longer obvious, and the film has been integrated with the substrate.
In addition, PVD can also perform unique PLC (polymer like carbon) metallurgical lubrication film deposition to further reduce the surface of the coating without additional cost and without additional coating production time. Coefficient of friction. For example, after adding a PLC coating to the AlTiN coating, the life of the coated tool can be increased for different applications.
2.5 Metaplas Ionon
The company was founded in 1984 and established an independent coating center in Bevgisch Gladbach, Germany in 1987, mainly based on MAXIT wear-resistant coatings. It was purchased by Balche Durr AG in 1991 and established Babcock Borsig AG. In 1992, it began manufacturing equipment and expanded coating services. In 1997, it acquired Klocknev Ionon GmbH and expanded its business scope to plasma nitriding, ie IONIT. R wear protection, patented IONIT OX R in 1997, registered with METALEUROP Coating Technology GmbH in 1999, and extended to the field of decorative coatings. In 2001, the company was acquired by Swiss company Sulzer. In 2002, Bergisch Gladbach's IONIT and IONIT OX production scale was expanded to become the largest industrial plasma surface treatment manufacturer. In 2003, he merged with the former DB film company in the United States and began to work on MAXIT, IONIT, and IONITOX production services.
Metaplas Ionon's MAXIT PVD coating standard system is available in six sizes from MZR303, MZR323, MZR333, MZR343, MZR373 to MZR393. The hard coat evaporator is a circular cathode arc target up to 24; the soft coating is The rectangular evaporator is coated by sputtering and the workpiece is heated externally. TiN, TiCN, AlTiN, ZrN, CrN hard coat and WC:H soft coat can be performed.
Although Metaplas has used a small area of ​​cathode arc target technology, its patented AEDD (Arc Enhanced Glow Discharge) technology has made this traditional technology a great breakthrough in technology. Taking the aluminum-titanium-titanium coating as an example, the AlTiN-saturn coating developed by it has a clear difference from the conventional coating. The film has a fine structure and a non-columnar crystal structure, and the surface has almost no "droplet" phenomenon. The Ra value can be less than 0.15 μm, and its use temperature is higher than 900 ° C, which is suitable for high speed and dry cutting. In addition, in applications where the surface of the coated tool has high lubricity requirements, such as drilling and threading, a layer of WC:H film can be coated on the same equipment by magnetron sputtering to improve its performance.
Another notable feature of Metaplas is the large size of the coating equipment. Its 24 target coating equipment can be coated with broaches or similar parts up to 4m in length to achieve industrial applications.
Metaplas mainly focuses on coating processing services, including tools, molds and wear parts, including hobs, rotary cutters, alloy blades, broaches, screw and press rolls, plastic pusher worms, etc. PVD equipment sales, 11 sets of equipment have been sold in the last 3 years.
3. Current development characteristics of PVD tool coating technology
It can be seen from the above analysis that in the industrialized countries, people pay more and more attention to the development of coating technology, and physical coating technology is more popular. It should be affirmed that PVD is in a high-speed development stage in recent years. It can be summarized as follows: the arrival of the era of high-speed machining has brought a good opportunity for its development; composite materials can not only greatly improve the utilization of resources, but also greatly expand the function of components, so It is more accepted by people; in addition, as people's awareness of environmental protection has increased, the development of this technology has broadened the application space.
After more than 30 years of development, physical coating has become a key technology in the tool manufacturing industry. It is currently in a period of vigorous development. Its development speed has surpassed people's imagination, and the development space is also unexpected. With the advancement of materials science and technology, coating technology has also evolved from single-layer film to multi-layer, gradient, nano- and nano-composite film coatings. These high-tech technologies have promoted the development of machinery manufacturing industry. People are full of good ideas for their future development.
In recent years, the development of physical coating technology has the following characteristics:
(1) Diversification of film and personalization of service
Compared with the 1990s, PVD technology entering the 21st century has undergone great changes, from a single TiN, TiCN, TiAlN to dozens of coating grades, for different cutting processing applications, The composition and structure of the film are selected, and a satisfactory cutting effect is obtained by an appropriate process. For example, in the gear processing, in addition to the strict requirements on the service life of the coated tool, how to ensure the accuracy and surface quality of the gear is also very important. Therefore, the composite film layer is generally used, namely hard coating + soft coating. Of course, the process methods for this purpose are different for different coating companies; in high-speed milling, only hard coatings are often used. In addition, the concept of personalized service has taken shape. For example, Platit's coating equipment adopts an open working mode, which can develop a more suitable coating process for different users at any time.
(2) Development of high speed and dry cutting coating technology
In high-speed machining or dry cutting process, temperature becomes the main reason that affects the service life of coating tools. Therefore, improving the high-temperature performance of the film and ensuring the red hardness of the coating tool has become a hot spot in the development of PVD technology in recent years. It is one of the effective methods to improve the nitrogen-aluminum-titanium coating and increase the content of Al in the film. Therefore, the so-called AlTiN coating (Al content is more than 50%) appears. It should be said that with the increase of Al content (within a certain range), The overall performance of the film has improved, but there are still some key technologies to be solved: how to achieve this coating in the production process, especially when the Al content exceeds 65%; how to control the crystal structure of AlN in this coating Wait. From the latest developments, coating companies have solved high-speed, high-temperature machining problems through other thin-film technologies, such as Balzers' AlCrN coating, Platit's (nc-Ti1-xAlxN)/(αSi3N4) coating, CemeCon The TINALOX coating and Metaplas' AlTiN-saturn coatings have excellent high temperature properties and have been successfully used in high speed, dry cutting applications.
(3) Improvement of the microstructure of the coated film
At present, in the PVD market, cathodic arc ion plating technology still dominates, but unlike previous companies, any company that uses cathodic arc ion plating technology attempts to improve the organization of coated films through hardware development and process adjustment. Structure to avoid the generation of "droplets" and columnar crystals. In particular, with the advent of the nano-concept, the microstructure of the cathodic arc film coating has been fundamentally improved. The Ra value of the coating surface obtained by this technique has been less than 0.15 μm, thus improving the overall performance of the cathodic arc coating. Accepted by the market.
(4) New concepts in the field of PVD coating
It is well known that PVD technology corresponds to CVD technology, which combines high strength, thick film layer and can be coated with α-Al2O3 coating, so it is more suitable for high-speed, dry roughing and half of medium and heavy cutting. Finishing field. How to use the PVD technology to develop the Al2O3 coating process, realize the thick film coating, and expand the PVD coating technology into the roughing and semi-finishing fields, which has been an urgent problem to be solved in the industry. CemeCon's research in this field has made breakthrough progress, which also indicates the arrival of a new era of PVD technology.
Another landmark is the nanocomposite coating, whose mathematical model was proposed by Professor S Veprek of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and verified under laboratory conditions. Since then, Professor S Veprek has cooperated with SHM and Platit to develop a unique cylindrical and rotary cathode arc target based on his laboratory research. The π series coating equipment is gradually reaching the industrial production level. In theory, this coating has both high microhardness and good surface quality, making it ideal for high-speed, high-precision machining.
4. Conclusion
At present, PVD coating technology in Europe has a great impact on China's market. Unlike the 1980s, these world-level coating companies have moved the most advanced technology and best service model to China. Balzers opened a coating processing center in China and established the In house service model; the same is true for PVT; and CemeCon has established its largest overseas joint venture in China, specializing in PVD coating business services.
The expectations of foreign counterparts on the domestic tool coating market have forced us to re-examine the development of this technology. The European tool coating technology started in the same way as in China, basically in the mid-1980s, and it was also developed by small and medium-sized enterprises. It can be said that it has developed to the fifth-generation technology level; and the domestic level is still in the second generation technology level. The reason is that European coating companies adhere to their own characteristics, pursue steady development, follow the market demand, establish a multi-party joint development system, and constantly introduce new technologies and new products to gradually meet the needs of the market.
At present, domestic coating research has become a hot topic. The theoretical analysis of colleges and universities is basically in line with foreign counterparts. However, how to guide industrial production and further research on new theories should cause people's thinking and attention.
The author believes that in combination with the increasingly important position of the current coating technology and extensive market demand, the development of industrialized coating application technology based on the absorption of advanced technology is still of great practical significance. From the development of the current coating technology, the technology is still in the middle of the development process. As the market demand changes, its further development space is still huge, so it is not too late to strengthen the research and development work in this field. . Referring to the development model of European companies, the organic combination of institutions and enterprises will be one of the important ways for their healthy development.
Magnesium Sulfate,Magnesium Sulphate,Bitter Salt
Sanji Chemical Trade Co., Ltd. , http://www.lysjchemical.com