Wear Behavior of TiAlN/DLC Coating on Tools in Milling Copper–Beryllium Alloy AMPCOLOY® 83

In recent years, the exponential growth of the machining industry and its needs has driven the development of new manufacturing technologies, more advanced cutting tool types, and new types of coatings to extend tool lifespan. New coating solutions have been studied and implemented for machining tools, which provide a low friction coefficient and lubrication, thus increasing tool lifespan. Following this line of reasoning, it is relevant to develop scientific work aimed at studying the behavior of cutting tools coated with thin films that promote low friction and high lubrication, as is the case with DLC (diamond-like carbon) coatings. These coatings promote good resistance to oxidation and allow high machining speeds, properties also exhibited by TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride) coatings. In fact, there is a gap in the literature studying the performance of cemented carbide tools provided with multilayered coatings in milling operations of Cu–Be alloys, commonly used in inserts of plastic injection molds. This study’s objective was to investigate the effect of a multilayer coating (TiAlN/DLC) on end-milling tools to analyze their cutting performance when milling a Cu–Be alloy known commercially as AMPCOLOY®83. The quality of the machined surface was evaluated, and the wear of the cutting tool was studied. A comparative analysis of milling parameters with respect to their effect on the condition of the surface after machining and the resulting wear on the tools, using coated and uncoated tools and different machining parameters, allowed us to verify a better quality of the machined surface and wear quantified in approximately half when used coated tools.