Wear Behaviour and Machining Performance in Milling of INCONEL® 718 of TiAlVN and TiAlN/TiAlVN Coated Tools: A Comparative Study

INCONEL® 718 is considered a difficult-to-machine material due to its superior mechanical properties. The milling process is the most suitable for machining this alloy due to its flexibility in generating complex shapes. Coated tools doped with some elements, such as Vanadium, have been used to improve process performance. Thus, this work aimed to compare two coatings, TiAlVN and TiAlN/TiAlVN, deposited by the Direct Current Magnetron Sputtering (DC MS) method when milling INCONEL® 718. The analysis was carried out concerning their structure and performance, in terms of surface roughness and wear mechanisms, in the milling process. The parameters changed in the process were the cutting length (Lcut) and feed per tooth (fz). Both coatings were found to have a columnar structure, with the multilayer coating having a smaller grain size. Furthermore, the multilayer coating featured better wear behaviour. The main wear mechanisms identified for both coatings were abrasive and adhesive, with higher intensity in the TiAlVN monolayered coating.