Aluminum titanium nitride coating with adapted morphology for enhanced wear resistance in machining operations and method thereof

1. (Al,Ti)N coating exhibiting at least two different coating portions, A and B, having grain size in nanometer magnitude order characterized in that the coating portion A exhibits larger grain size and higher elastic modulus than the coating portion B which is deposited on the coating portion A,

wherein at least one of an aluminum fraction in atomic percent related to titanium and a compression stress measured in the coating portion A is less than one of the corresponding aluminum fraction in atomic percent related to titanium and the compression stress measured in the coating portion B,

the grain size in the coating portion A is between 5 nm and 50 nm, and

the grain size in the coating portion A, gz A , is at least 1.25 times larger than the grain size in the coating portion B, gz B .

2. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that the grain size in the coating portions A is between 5 nm and 30 nm.

3. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that gz A ≧1.5·gz B .

4. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that 10·gz B ≧gz A ≧1.5·gz B .

5. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that 4·gz B ≧gz A ≧1.8·gz B .

6. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that both coating portions A and B exhibit face centered cubic crystalline structures and predominantly (200) crystallographic texture.

7. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that both coating portions A and B exhibit hardness values between 37 GPa and 55 GPa and/or elastic modulus values between 410 GPa and 450 GPa.

8. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 , characterized in that the thickness of the coating portion A, th A , is smaller than the coating thickness of the coating portion B, th B .

9. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 8 , characterized in that 1.2·th A ≦th B ≦8·th A .

10. (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 8 , characterized in that 1.5·th A ≦th B ≦3·th A .

11. Substrate at least partially coated with an (Al,Ti)N coating according to claim 1 .

12. Substrate according to claim 11 , characterized in that the substrate is a tool.

13. Substrate according to claim 11 , characterized in that the substrate is a cutting tool comprising at least one of steel, cemented carbide, ceramic, and cubic boron nitride.

14. Substrate according to claim 11 , wherein the coating portion A is deposited on a surface of the substrate.

15. Method for coating a substrate according to claim 11 , characterized in that at least the coating portion A and/or the coating portion B of the (Al,Ti)N coating are/is deposited by means of PVD techniques.

16. Method according to claim 15 , characterized in that, at least for depositing the coating portion A and/or the coating portion B of the (Al,Ti)N coating, reactive arc ion plating deposition techniques are used, whereby at least one target comprising titanium and aluminum is used as source material and for the coating formation nitrogen or an essentially nitrogen comprising gas is used as a reactive gas.

17. Method according to claim 15 , characterized in that at least for depositing the coating portion A and/or the coating portion B of the (Al,Ti)N coating an arc evaporator comprising a cathode, an anode arranged in the direct neighborhood of the cathode and a magnetic means is used, wherein the magnetic means allows to lead the streamlines of the magnetic field to the anode.

18. Method according to claim 15 , characterized in that for depositing the coating portion A a higher coil current value is used than for depositing the coating portion B.

19. Method according to claim 15 , characterized in that for depositing the coating portion B of the (Al,Ti)N coating a bias voltage having a more negative value is applied at the substrate to be coated in comparison to it applied for depositing the coating portion A.

20. PVD method for depositing a coating on a substrate, said coating having at least two different coating portions, A and B, said A and B coating portions having different grain size, the coating portion A exhibiting an average grain size larger than it in the coating portion B, characterized in that at least one of an electron temperature and ionization of the reactive gas for the coating portion A is different from at least one of the corresponding electron temperature and ionization of the reactive gas for the coating portion B.

21. PVD method according to claim 20 , characterized in that, the PVD method is an reactive arc evaporation PVD method.

22. PVD method according to claim 21 , characterized in that, for depositing the coating portion A and/or for depositing the coating portion B at least one arc evaporator comprising a cathode, an anode arranged in the direct neighborhood of the cathode and a magnetic means is used, wherein the magnetic means allows to lead the streamlines of the magnetic field to the anode.

23. PVD method according to claim 20 , characterized in that, for depositing the coating portion A a higher coil current than for depositing the coating portion B is used.

24. PVD method according to claim 20 , characterized in that, for depositing the coating portion A a negative bias voltage is applied at the substrate to be coated whose absolute value is lower than it applied for depositing the coating portion B.

25. PVD method according to claim 20 , characterized in that, for depositing the coating portions A and B a same type of target material, consisting of the same elements and having same chemical composition in atomic percentage is used.

26. PVD method according to claim 20 , characterized in that, at least one of the targets used for depositing the coating portions A and/or B is made by powder metallurgy techniques.