Workpiece with hard coating

1. A workpiece having a body and a wear resistant hard coating system on at least a part of the surface of said body, said system comprising at least one layer of the following composition

(Al 1-a-b-c Cr a B b Z c )X where

X is at least one of: N, C, CN, NO, CO, CNO;

Z is at least one of: W, Mo, Ta, Cb (Nb);

wherein there is valid

0.2≦a≦0.5;

0.01≦b≦0.2;

0.001≦c≦0.04,

wherein said at least one layer exhibits a glassy growth structure in the SEM cross-section.

2. The workpiece of claim 1 , wherein said layer system comprises at least one layer of the following composition:

(Al 1-a-b-c Cr a B b W c )X

wherein there is valid

0.01≦b≦0.1;

0.001≦c≦0.01.

3. The workpiece of one of claim 1 or 2 , wherein said at least one layer is the outermost layer of said system.

4. The workpiece of claim 1 , wherein said at least one layer resides directly on said surface.

5. The workpiece of claim 1 , wherein said system comprises at least one interlayer of (Ti d Al e )N.

6. The workpiece of claim 5 , wherein said interlayer is interposed between said surface and said at least one layer.

7. The workpiece of claim 6 , wherein said interlayer resides directly on at least one of said surface and of said at least one layer.

8. The workpiece of claim 7 , wherein there is valid:

0.4≦d≦0.6 and

0.4≦e≦0.6.

9. The workpiece of claim 1 , wherein said system comprises at least one interlayer of (Al f Cr g )N.

10. The workpiece of claim 9 , wherein said interlayer is interposed between said surface and said at least one layer.

11. The workpiece of claim 10 , wherein said interlayer resides directly on at least one of said surface and of said at least one layer.

12. The workpiece of claim 11 , wherein there is valid

0.4≦f≦0.7 and

0.3≦g≦0.6.

13. The workpiece of claim 1 , wherein said at least one layer has a texture coefficient Q=I(200)/I(111) in the range of 0.1≦Q≦1.

14. The workpiece according to claim 5 , wherein said (Ti d Al e )N interlayer exhibits a columnar growth structure.

15. The workpiece of claim 1 , wherein said system comprises a multilayer of alternating at least one layer of (Al 1-a-b Cr a B b W c )X and at least one coating subsystem, wherein said coating subsystem comprises at least one of a layer of (Ti d Al e )N and a layer of (Al f Cr g )N.

16. The workpiece of claim 1 , said body being of one of high-speed steel, hardened steel, cemented carbide and of cubic boron nitride.

17. The workpiece of claim 1 , said body being of one of a cermet and of a ceramic material.

18. The workpiece according to claim 9 , wherein said (Al f Cr g )N interlayer exhibits a columnar growth structure.