Computational design of wear coatings

Quantitative models for the relative abrasive and chemical dissolution wear rates of potential tool coating materials are presented. Inputs to the models include the free energy of formation of the tool material, the excess free energies of solution of the constituent elements of the tool material in the workpiece, the hardness of the coating, and the cutting temperature. The models have been implemented on a VAX 11/750 minicomputer to allow screening of candidate materials for improved wear coatings. Sample calculations are included and suggest that it may be possible to develop coatings with significantly better performance than current titanium nitride coatings.