Dr. Philipp Immich, Gabriela Negrea, Louis Tegelaers

IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V., Van Heemskerckweg 22, 5928 LL Venlo . Netherlands

In our continuous search for improvement we have taken the step for industrial units with HiPIMS capability. This lead to the discovery of new properties, different coating material behaviour and better performance in cutting and forming applications compared to conventional ARC coatings.

As many investigations were done on small-scale units, bringing this technology to industrial scale, larger units and also process upscaling was needed. Today real production of coated parts not require only good coating properties but also production related topics like reliability, easy maintenance, cost per part and flexibility of the coating unit itself plays an important role.

In this regard HiPIMS coatings from AlCrN-based system were deposited on industrial scale units for tool applications. The applied coatings were investigated concerning mechanical film properties like hardness, Young´s Modulus, chemical properties like composition and phase formation.

To verify the performance of the coating machine and the deposited coatings, industrial tests are carried out in tapping as well as in cutting applications. The obtained results show, that the HiPIMS technology is not only ready for a serial production in small scale units, it is also ready for high volumes in a modern production facility with the benefit of better tool performance.