Effect of Surface Pre-Treatment on the Adhesion between HiPIMS Thick Cu:CuCNx Coating and WC-Co Shim

High-power impulse magnetron-sputtering thick metal/carbon–nitride-doped metal-matrix multilayer nano-composite coating can be applied to cutting-tool holder components improve cutting insert’s life. One of the challenges such an add-on solution is poor adhesion between and hard alloy substrate, as WC-Co shim. This work presents a study on substrate surface preparation methods for HiPIMS its improvement. Three mechanical pretreatment were investigated: machining (grinding), diamond polishing, grit blasting. White-light interferometry was used texture measurement before after pretreatment. It demonstrated that, compared blasting significantly interface ~200 µm-thick Cu:CuCNx Grit also found beneficial improving life in external turning process. In tests, lifetime grit-blasted shim more than 90 min, whereas lifetimes machined (conventional shim) diamond-polished ~85 min ~70 respectively. Further, by comparing gradient chromium pre-layer different shims, explained that quasi-isotropic advantageous coating–substrate adhesion.