Coatings for Cutting Tools: Their Design, Manufacture, Performance and Optimization
A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2026 | Viewed by 72
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cutting tool design and manufacturing technology; cutting tool additive manufacturing technology; multi-field-assisted processing technology; processing process analysis; numerical modeling; data-driven process optimization; structural design and quality control
Interests: plasma diagnostics; film growth; tribology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The urgent demand for high-performance processing in the advanced manufacturing industry makes the life and stability of cutting tools in high-temperature, high-speed, and high-hardness material processing the key bottleneck restricting efficiency. Tool coating technology is the primary economical solution to improve cutting performance. After decades of development, TiAlN, AlCrN, diamond and other high-hardness, high-thermal stability, excellent wear-resistance and chemically inert coating materials have significantly improved the thermal–mechanical–tribological properties of turning, milling and turning tools by depositing on the surface of the tool substrate, effectively extending the service life and broadening the applicable window of working conditions.
The current research areas include coating structure design, coating–substrate bonding mechanisms, stress control and interface stability, as well as the precise control of composites, multilayers, nanostructures, and functionally graded coatings. Surface post-processing technologies such as sandblasting, magnetic polishing, and energy beam treatment have also received increasing attention. As coating technology moves from performance improvement to application-oriented optimization and deep coupling with processing technology, research is also shifting from a single performance index to exploring the collaborative adaptation mechanism of the “tool coating processing“ system.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Design and synthesis of advanced tool coating materials, including TiAlN, AlCrN, diamond, multi-component composite coatings, and nanostructured coatings.
- Technical development and optimization of PVD, CVD, and new deposition processes, such as high-energy ion beam deposition, plasma-assisted CVD, plasma-enhanced evaporation, etc.
- Studies on the bonding mechanism of the coating–substrate interface and the control method of residual stress, including bonding strength, thermal stress evolution, crack initiation, and failure behavior.
- Tool coating post-treatment processes and their effect on performance, including sandblasting, magnetic grinding, laser cladding reprocessing, energy beam-induced strengthening, etc.
- The application behavior of advanced coated tools in typical difficult-to-cut materials, including the wear resistance and cutting adaptability of superalloys, titanium alloys, carbon fiber composites, and other materials.
- Prediction and optimization of cutting performance of coated tools based on numerical simulations and experiments, including finite element simulations, cutting force/thermal analysis, coating failure modeling, etc.
Dr. Tao Zhou
Dr. Hao Du
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- multi-scale design of tool coatings
- deposition and post-treatment processes
- membrane-based interface and stress regulation
- wear resistance mechanism and cutting adaptability
- performance simulation and collaborative process optimization
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