b'Dummiesinstead of endmillsSpecial fixture for trimming diesHolder/plate for shank toolsPD2iThis interior view of a PVD coating machine shows the fixtures that hold round shank tools and endmills, which are displayed here as dummies. The rotating gold fixture holds trimming dies.should look different than the coat- heated tool substrate and plate out ings of other companies even if theas a solid layer coating the surface.performance is the same. PVD coatings are created using one of two techniques. Both start Chemical and Physicalwith a high-purity, solid-metal tar-Vapor Deposition get, such as titanium, chromium Oerlikon Balzers Coating USA While an array of coating tech- or aluminum, which then is evap-Coating equipment companies offernologies has been developed, twoorated by either heat (arc evapo-modular solutions to accommodate different types of coatings for aof the most common types in theration) or bombardment with ions manufacturers specific tool lines. cutting tool industry are chemi- (sputtering). At the same time, a re-cal vapor deposition and physicalactive gasfor instance, nitrogen standard coating like aluminumvapor deposition. or a gas containing carbonis chromium nitride, but they want aFor the CVD process, reactantadded to the coating chamber. Ions dedicated color, such as purple orgases are piped into a reactor, orin the gas form compounds with the green, for marketing purposes,furnace, at a specific temperaturemetal ions vaporized from the tar-said Dirk Haack, CEO of PD2i Eu- and pressure. Inside the reactor,get. These compounds then are de-rope GmbH, Dren, Germany. Itthe gases come into contact with aposited on tools or components as ctemag.com/cteguide.com51Toolcoatings.indd 51 6/16/20 11:49 AM'