Development of Ti PVD Films to Limit the Carburization of Metal Powders during SPS Process

Spark plasma sintering technique is used for the fabrication of dense materials with a fine-grained microstructure. In this process, a powder is placed into a graphite mold and a uniaxial pressure is applied by two graphite punches. A graphite foil is inserted between the punches and the powder and between the mold and the powder to ensure good electrical, physical and thermal contact. One of the major drawbacks during sintering of metal powders is the carburization of the powder in contact with the graphite foils. In this study, a PVD coating of titanium was applied on the graphite foils in contact with the metal powder (pure iron). The results are promising, as the investigations show that the application of a Ti PVD film of 1.5 and 1.1 µm thickness is effective to completely avoid the carburization of iron powder. Carbon diffuses inside the PVD film during sintering. In parallel, iron diffusion was revealed inside the Ti coating of 1.5 µm thickness. On the other hand, a Ti PVD film of 0.5 µm thickness provides a protection against carbon diffusion just on the sides in contact with the mold, proving that the coating thickness represents an important parameter to consider.

The numerical optimization methods usage for choosing blisk trajectory during PVD coating deposition

PVD coating deposition is a considerable way to prevent the gas turbine engine blade from erosive wear. However, the process for blisks is complicated by the part complex shape which leads to uneven film thickness. The research considers an approach for optimizing the blisk trajectory in a vacuum chamber. This approach reduced the calculated non-uniformity of the coating thickness from 4.3-10.8 to 6.2-10.4 μm.

Soft Tooling-Friendly Inductive Mold Heating—A Novel Concept

In order to economize injection molded prototypes, additive manufacturing of, e.g., curable plastics based tools, can be employed, which is known as soft tooling. However, one disadvantage of such tools is that the variothermal process, which is needed to produce polymeric parts with small features, can lead to a shorter lifespan of the tooling due to its thermally impaired material properties. Here, a novel concept is proposed, which allows to locally heat the mold cavity via induction to circumvent the thermal impairment of the tooling material. The developed fabrication process consists of additive manufacturing of the tooling, PVD coating the mold cavity with an adhesion promoting layer and a seed layer, electroplating of a ferromagnetic metal layer, and finally patterning the metal layer via laser ablation to enhance the quality and efficiency of the energy transfer as well as the longevity by geometric measures. This process chain is investigated on 2D test specimens to find suitable fabrication parameters, backed by adhesion tests as well as environmental and induction tests. The results of these investigations serve as proof of concept and form the base for the investigation of such induction layers in actual soft tooling cavities.

CHOICE OF ALLOY, COATING AND GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS OF CUTTER PLATE FOR FACE MILLING OF HIGH-CARBON HARDENED 95H18-Sh STEEL

The application of hardened steel parts for the purpose of wear-resistance increase becomes increasing spread in different branches of mechanical engineering. In view of high hardness of the work surface of parts, finishing is carried out by flat grinding. During the hardened steel grinding there are formed burns, cracks, admixtures of abrasive particles in the work surface which are inadmissible defects in a surface layer of critical parts mounted in the fuel unit of an aviation engine. The analysis of literature and company experience has shown that after thermal treatment instead of finishing is necessary to use surface finishing by a face milling method, but there are no sufficient recommendations for tool choice and cutting modes to date. Jointly with the educational department there are carried out theoretical researches of cutters for the face milling of the “selector housing” mass-produced parts consisting of corrosion-resistant 95H18-Sh steel with the hardness of 59÷61 HRC. In the paper there is considered a chemical composition of 95H18-Sh steel, a method for manufacturing a cast, its physical, mechanical and chemical properties. Taking into account data obtained for the face-milling cutter installation on the frame there was chosen Sandvik Coromant material for the replaceable cutting insert the base of which consists of hard alloy 1010 with PVD coating. Later on there was carried out selection of basic geometrical parameters and characteristics of a cutting plate and also a micro-geometry of a major cutting edge and a tip. Mass-produced replaceable through-away plates with R245-12 T3 M-PM number of 1010 hard alloy and PVD coating were obtained from the catalog of Sandvik Coromant company. At the end of the work a conclusion was drawn that the application of face milling will allow ensuring the requirements to the design documentation of the product, decreasing thermal and power stress of the process, increasing productivity, surface quality and excluding the necessity in abrasion, and the investigation results are applicable to the fulfillment of the complete factor experiment and computation of a simulator with the definition of the impact of variable factors upon a response function.

Hard Protective Layers on Forging Dies—Development and Applications

The article presents a summary of many years of activities in the area of increasing the durability of forging dies. The results of comprehensive research work on the analysis of the destructive mechanisms of forging dies and the possibility of increasing their durability with the use of modern surface engineering methods are presented. Great possibilities in terms of shaping operational properties of forging dies by producing hybrid layers of the “Nitrided Layer + PVD Coating” (NL + PVD coating) type were confirmed. An analysis of changes in forging dies durability under various operating conditions was performed, i.e., forging—die—forging press—pressures. It has been shown that the variety of parameters of the forging process, including forgings’ geometry and weight, materials, precision, pressures applied, and, what is very important, quality of machines, makes it very difficult to compare the effectiveness of various PVD coating solutions in the process of increasing the durability of forging dies. Hybrid layers of the “NL + PVD coating” type create great possibilities in shaping the operational properties of tools and machine elements. However, in each application a precise diagnosis of the wear mechanism and the design of an individual PVD coating material solution is required.