Design and simulation of thermal residual stresses of coatings on WC-Co cemented carbide cutting tool substrate

Large thermal residual stresses in coatings during the coating deposition process may easily lead to coating delamination of coated carbide tools in machining. In order to reduce the possibility of coating delamination during the tool failure process, a theoretical method was proposed and a numerical method was constructed for the coating design of WC-Co cemented carbide cutting tools. The thermal residual stresses of multi-layered coatings were analytically modeled based on equivalent parameters of coating properties, and the stress distribution of coatings are simulated by Finite element method (FEM). The theoretically calculated results and the FEM simulated results were verified and in good agreement with the experimental test results. The effects of coating thickness, tool substrate, coating type and interlayer were investigated by the proposed geometric and FEM model. Based on the evaluations of matchability of tool substrate and tool coatings, the basic principles of tool coating design were proposed. This provides theoretical basis for the selection and design of coatings of cutting tools in high-speed machining.