Boron Nitride Coating of Tools and Dies To Improve Performance in Manufacturing Applications

Abstract

A physical vapour deposition (PVD) system is developed to coat boron nitride (BN) films on tools, dies, and mechanical parts to improve hardness, to decrease wear, to reduce friction and to increase high temperature resistance. Various coatings applications on steel, stainless steel, aluminium, titanium and copper have shown good adhesion. Quality is checked by coating thickness, nanohardness, scratch testing, AFM, SEM and FTIR measurements. BN coating is also applied on specimens and tools which have been previously coated by titanium nitride (TiN). FTIR results show that different allotropes (polymorphs) of BN are produced by different coating parameters. From industrial tests, extended life and improved performance is obtained for tools and dies in manufacturing applications. © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.