Performance of soft/hard composite dual-effect coated tool in dry cutting of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is a difficult-to-machine material whose machining requires cutting tools of high performance. In this study, a CrCN-WS(2)dual utility coated tool (the tool is a composite of the hard coating CrCN and the soft coating WS2) was used to improve the dry cutting performance of CFRP. To validate the improvement of the CrCN-WS(2)dual utility coated tool, three other different tools including uncoated tool, CrCN hard-coated tool, and WS(2)soft-coated tool were applied to do the dry cutting test. The three-axis cutting force, the cutting temperature, the average friction coefficient, the three-dimensional shape of the rake face, and the height of the cohesive section were measured. The results revealed that the CrCN-WS(2)dual utility coated tool has the best cutting performance and is more suitable for turning CFRP materials among the four tools. Since it can fully combine the high hardness and high wear resistance of CrCN and the friction reduction of WS2, the cutting force and the cutting heat were effectively reduced, and the rake face condition was greatly improved.