Effect of plasma nitriding on the performance of WC-Co cutting tools

This paper presents the effect of nitriding process parameters on the cutting performance of WC-Co tools. The cutting performance was measured by CNC machining of GG25 cast iron parts. The hardness and phase composition of nitrided layer were determined for different plasma nitriding temperatures and times. The hardness of the nitrided layer increased at all plasma nitrided conditions investigated. However, the machining performance of the cutting inserts varied in the range between a 60% increase and a 40% decrease after plasma nitriding. The maximum number of machined parts was seen when the insert was nitrided at 600 °C-4 h and at 500 °C-4 h.