This study investigates the characterization and dry machining performance of
advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) aluminum titanium nitride (AlTiN) and
aluminum chromium titanium nitride (AlCrTiN) coatings deposited using three
techniques: cathodic arc evaporation (CAE), high-power impulse magnetron
sputtering (HiPIMS), and scalable pulse power plasma (S3p). The coatings were
evaluated for thickness, microstructure, surface roughness, coefficient of
friction (CoF), adhesion strength, and microhardness. Among the tested coatings,
the S3p-deposited AlCrTiN showed the best performance, exhibiting the highest
microhardness (40 GPa), the strongest adhesion (108 N), and the lowest CoF
(0.25), along with a defect-free microstructure. Under the selected dry turning
condition of 150 m/min cutting speed, 0.15 mm/rev feed rate, and 0.7 mm depth of
cut, the S3p-deposited AlCrTiN coating achieved a maximum tool life of 10,800
mm, nearly three times higher than the CAE-deposited AlTiN coating. In contrast,
CAE coatings showed comparatively lower hardness and weaker adhesion, with
minimum values of 25 GPa and 68 N for C1, along with higher CoF values of
0.58–0.60. Furthermore, AlCrTiN coatings produced by HiPIMS and S3p provided
20–30% longer tool life than AlTiN coatings under identical cutting conditions,
highlighting the importance of deposition technique.
