Finite element simulation of milling operation using uncoated and titanium aluminium nitride coated tools with different coating thicknesses.

There are many coating materials, coating structures and different coating thicknesses. During the milling process, it is necessary to investigate the impact of coating thickness. The paper's main objective is to numerically compare the performance of tungsten carbide (WC) with and without a TiAlN coating while milling of AISI 1045 medium carbon steel in terms of tool temperature, cutting forces and tool wear. The effect of variation of the TiAlN coating thickness (between 1 to 4 µm) was observed; to study its significance on the machining performance of the tool and to find out if there is a particular optimum coating thickness. Following this, the milling process was simulated in Deform 3D simulation software for the uncoated tool and different coating thicknesses. In terms of tool wear, coated tools outperformed uncoated tools, and the coated tool with the highest machining performance had a coating thickness of 2 µm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]