Tribological Behavior of Physical Vapor Deposition Coating for Punch and Dies: An Overview

Punches and dies are cutting tools used to make holes on metallic surfaces using the punch which passes through the work into a die. Todays tool/die machinists and buyers need to know more than simply the qualities of the raw metal that forms the tooling blank because of the rapid evolution of PVD coating technology. When it comes to tooling design, raw material, heat treatment, coating qualities, material being machined, cycle time requirements and permitted machine downtime, they must comprehend the full system. Surface modifications for punch/dies are typically required to improve their mechanical and corrosion, properties. Therefore PVD coatings of punch/die material using TiN, TiCN, CrN, TiAlN and nanocomposite coatings has improved the tribological properties, reduce total cost of tools and down time. This paper focuses on comprehensive review on PVD processes on punch/die materials, properties of die materials such as wear, hardness and surface finishes etc. In addition to that coating materials, its properties and characterization techniques were addressed.