The operational ability of a unit or mechanism depends mainly on the quality of the mechanically produced working surfaces. Many materials can be assigned to a group of hard-to-cut materials that includes titanium- and aluminum-based alloys, a new class of heat-resistant alloys, SiCp/Al composites, hard alloys, and other alloys. The difficulties in their machining are related not only to the high temperatures achieved on the contact pads under mechanical load and the extreme cutting conditions but also to the properties of those materials, which affect the adhesion of the chip to the tool faces, hindering chip flow. One of the possible solutions to reduce those effects and improve the operational life of the tool, and as a consequence, the final quality of the working surface of the unit, is texturing the rake face of the tool with microgrooves or nanogrooves, microholes or nanoholes (pits, dimples), micronodes, cross-chevron textures, and other microtextures, the depth of which is in the range of 3.0–200.0 µm. This review is addressed at systematizing the data obtained on micro- and nanotexturing of PCD tools for cutting hard-to-cut materials by different techniques (fiber laser graving, femto- and nanosecond laser, electrical discharge machining, fused ion beam), additionally subjected to fluorination and dip- and drop-based coatings, and the effect created by the use of the textured PCD tool on the machined surface.

Expanding the operating pressure range of hollow cathode glow discharge to the region of 0.01–0.1 Pa makes it possible to use the discharge plasma in a number of technological processes that were previously not feasible, because pressure always exceeded p = 1 Pa. Implantation of nitrogen ions by means of application of 40 kV pulses to a steel workpiece immersed in plasma at p < 0.1 Pa allows production of a 40 µm thick surface layer with hardness of 13 GPa exceeding by 6.5 times the hardness of the bulk and a decrease in the processing time by an order of magnitude. Nitriding a steel workpiece at p = 0.1 Pa allows a substantial increase in the nitriding rate. The use of a titanium workpiece as a discharge anode with surface area not exceeding a critical value allows it to melt due to heating to the melting point of 1670 °C by electrons accelerated in the positive anode fall of potential.

To increase the wear resistance of a hollow ceramic product, it is necessary to apply wear-resistant coatings to all its surfaces, including the internal surfaces. Before the coating deposition, the surface must be processed with a beam of energetic particles to ensure its adhesion. In this study, a scheme for processing internal surfaces of hollow cylinders with fast argon atoms is proposed and tested. Simultaneous treatment of all surfaces of the rotating ceramic cylinder allowed for deposition of a uniform TiB2 coating on both sides of the cylinder and a decrease in the abrasion wear by several times.

Dicing is an essential stage of Si and SiC wafers production for producing electronic devices, in which many factors influence the quality of the final IC assembly. This review aims to provide an overview of the current state of the scientific community on the reduction of chipping size in dicing Si and SiC wafers with a polycrystalline diamond saw blade to identify areas for further research and to systematize the obtained data. The study utilizes meta-analysis methodology and considers two groups of the techniques presented by other authors: optimizing of dicing factors related to a PCD saw blade tool, processing modes (specified techniques, a feed rate, a depth of cut, and a rotation speed), and a workpiece characterization (crystallographic orientation, structure). The maximum effect was achieved using the street pre-forming technique (the minimal chipping size in dicing the Si wafer was 36.0–36.8 μm) and by choosing the crystallographic orientation of the workpiece before performing dicing (the minimum chipping debris was 3 μm (47 % of all debris) and was obtained for the Si (111) wafer along [1‾10] cutting direction). The paper highlights the possibility of applying the proposed techniques in real production conditions.

Using spark plasma sintering technology, SiC-TiB2-TiC ceramic composites with various graphene oxide content (0.15, 0.25, 0.5 vol.%) were manufactured, and their microstructure as well as physico-mechanical and tribological properties were studied. Ceramic composite with 0.25 vol.% of graphene oxide showed a relative density of 99.9%, fracture toughness of 6.3 MPa·m1/2, flexural strength of 583 MPa and Vickers hardness of 22.2 GPa. Moreover, this composite showed a coefficient of friction and wear rate of 0.53 and 1.92 × 10−6 mm3/N·m, respectively, under a load of 10 N. Similarly, under a load of 30 N, this composite showed a coefficient of friction and wear rate of 0.6 and 4.05 × 10−5 mm3/N·m, respectively. This research demonstrated that the addition of 0.25 vol.% of graphene oxide improved the physical–mechanical and tribological properties of ceramic composites based in the SiC-TiB2-TiC ternary system, which in turn makes this composite more promising for use, for example, as a cutting tool material.

The punching of holes or recesses on computer numerical control coordinate presses occurs in sheets at high speeds (up to 1200 strokes/min) with an accuracy of ~0.05 mm. One of the most effective approaches to the wear rate reduction of stamping tools is the use of solid lubricants, such as wear-resistant coatings, where the bulk properties of the tool are combined with high microhardness and lubricating ability to eliminate waste disposal and remove oil contaminants from liquid lubricants. This work describes the efficiency of complex CrAlSiN/DLC:Si coatings deposited using a hybrid unit combining physical vapor deposition and plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition technologies to increase the wear resistance of a punch tool made of X165CrMoV12 die steel during coordinate punching of 4.0 mm thick 41Cr4 carbon structural steel sheets. The antifriction layer of DLC:Si allows for minimizing the wear under thermal exposure of 200 °C. The wear criterion of the lateral surface was 250 μm. The tribological tests allow us to consider the CrAlSiN/DLC:Si coatings as effective in increasing the wear resistance of stamping tools (21,000 strokes for the uncoated tool and 48,000 strokes for the coated one) when solving a wide range of technological problems in sheet stamping of structural steels.

A study of the antifriction properties of suspension solid-lubricating coatings based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) at high temperatures depending on the type of substrate, binder, additives, and load parameters was carried out. The solid lubricants were sprayed on two different substrates, high-temperature alloy (Inconel X-750) and stainless steel (AISI 430), tested under 10 N and 23 N loads at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 800 °C. For comparison, different types of solid lubricants were used. In this work, it was established that the antifriction properties of solid lubricant suspension coatings at high temperatures significantly depend on the type of solid lubricant and the binder used. Moreover, it was shown that the use of Inconel X-750 as a substrate can lead to an increase in the critical operating temperature of coatings containing MoS2, graphite, and titanate as solid lubricant, additive, and binder, respectively. For instance, at load 23 N, the operating temperature increased from 480 °C to 496 °C. On the other hand, the coating based on graphite, containing ceramic as an additive, and an inorganic binder showed the best performance in terms of a combination of properties (low coefficient of friction and longer operation with a coefficient of friction below 0.3 under increasing temperature) when it was applied on the Inconel X-750 substrate. In addition, it was established that the coefficient of friction of graphite-based coatings gradually increases as they lose their antifriction properties due to their failure, while the coatings based on molybdenum disulfide show the opposite behavior, where the coefficient of friction increases sharply when it loses its lubricating properties.

A new approach to stripping surface layers from ceramics with fast atoms is proposed. The existing beam sources do not allow for a stripping rate of more than a few µm/h to be achieved. Usually, an increase in the etching rate is associated with growing flux density and energy of fast atoms, which can heat the parts of the beam source up to an inadmissible temperature. In the present work, the etching rate was significantly increased at permanent flux density and energy due to an increase in the angle of incidence of fast atoms on the product surface. An increase in the angle of incidence from zero to 80° resulted not only in an increase in the etching rate by several times but also in simultaneous polishing of the surface to a high finishing class.

The removal of defective surface layers can substantially improve the quality of various products. It can be carried out using beams of accelerated ions or fast argon atoms. However, it is difficult to process the inner surface of narrow channels. In the present work, a narrow beam of fast argon atoms is used to sputter and polish the inner surface of drawing dies with 5.7 mm wide working channels. Due to the high angle of incidence to the channel walls, sputtering with fast argon atoms decreased their roughness to Ra ~ 0.004 µm.

Insulating cutting ceramics exhibit outstanding mechanical and thermal properties but have electrical conductivity below the percolation threshold. It does not allow sophisticated shapes to be obtained by diamond grinding and polishing. The developed innovative technique is based on choosing the wear-resistant coating based on the chemical composition of the cutting ceramics and its behaviour at 1000–10 000°C, including changing the electrical conductivity from insulating to conducting level, dissociation/sublimation of its components and forming new conductive compounds during cooling that improves the conductive conditions in the interelectrode gap. Thus, the coating plays a wear-resistant role and serves as a technological asset in shaping methods based on the electrical destruction of the materials under discharges. TiZrN coating was deposited on a Si 3 N 4 cutting insert using the vacuum-plasma method, with a thickness of 3.8–4.0 μm. The ceramics was microtextured by powder-mixed wire electrical discharge machining in TiO 2 -suspension, d w = 0.25 mm. The coated samples were subjected to adhesion and wear-resistance tests. Failure criterion in machining XH45MBTJuBP alloy was chosen a chamfer of 400 μm. The durability of the TiZrN-coated Si 3 N 4 ceramic insert was improved by 1.33.

Today, the machining of heat-resistant alloys based on triple, quad, or penta equilibria high-entropy alloy systems of elements (ternary, quaternary, quinary iron-, titanium-, or nickel-rich alloys), including dual-phase by Gibb’s phase rule, steels of the austenite class, and nickel- and titanium-based alloys, are highly relevant for the airspace and aviation industry, especially for the production of gas turbine engines. Cutting tools in contact with those alloys should withstand intensive mechanical and thermal loads (tense state of 1.38·108–1.54·108 N/m2, temperature up to 900–1200 °C). The most spread material for those tools is cutting ceramics based on oxides, nitrides of the transition and post-transition metals, and metalloids. This work considers the wear resistance of the cutting insert of silicon nitride with two unique development coatings — titanium–zirconium nitride coating (Ti,Zr)N and complex quad nitride coating with TiN content up to 70% (Ti,Al,Cr,Si)N with a thickness of 3.8–4.0 µm on which microtextures were produced by the assisted electric discharge machining with the electrode-tool of ø0.25 mm. The microtextures were three parallel microgrooves of R0.13+0.02 mm at a depth of 0.025−0.05. The operational life was increased by ~1.33 when the failure criterion in turning nickel alloy was 0.4 mm.

The review is intended to systematize the latest achievements and the most promising methods in polycrystalline diamond saw blade dressing used for dicing Si and SiC wafers. Dicing, or die singulation, is important in IC assembly, and the quality of the die edges influences the final product quality. Reducing chipping size and width has been a scientific problem over the last few decades. Many techniques were proposed to solve it. The most practical solutions involved optimizing processing factors and cutting direction in accordance with the crystallographic structure of the wafers, since silicon and silicon carbide are hard and brittle materials with low fracture toughness, high hardness, and high thermal conductivity. Wear of the PCD saw blade is also a contributing factor to the formation of chipping and cracks. Dressing allows the bond material removal and diamond grain liberation, where grit size plays a critical role. Dressing techniques were divided into two groups depending on the nature of the exposure, and a combined technique of dressing–coating–redressing was also observed. The less significant chipping size effect was observed for the combined technique in dicing Si wafers when the effect of the techniques based on the mechanical and electrophysical exposures was more significant.

Nitriding is one of the technologies used to improve the performance properties of tool steels. In addition to traditional gas nitriding, technologies aimed at increasing the productivity and/or efficiency of processing have found application in industry. This paper presents the results of using vacuum and plasma electrolytic nitriding to improve the wear resistance of M2 high-speed steel, as well as prospects for further development of these technologies. XRD and SEM methods were used to study the structural and phase changes in the surface layers, showing the formation of layers of connections hardened to 1200–1300 HV. Tribological tests were carried out under dry friction conditions according to the shaft-shoe scheme with varying sliding speed. The mechanism of contact interaction during the friction of nitrided steel was established. It is shown that plastic deformations are the prevailing type of deformation. The mechanism of destruction of the surface layer is fatigue wear during dry friction without lubrication. This provides an increase in wear resistance by 6–29 times.

The surface of ceramic products manufactured using diamond grinding is replete with shallow scratches, deep grooves and other defects. The thickness of the defective layer amounts to 3–4 µm and it must be removed to increase wear resistance of the products when exposed to intense thermomechanical loads. In this study, removal of the defective layers from samples made of ZrO2, Al2O3 and Si3N4 with a beam of fast argon atoms was carried out with a stripping rate of up to 5 µm/h. To prevent contamination of the source of fast argon atoms by the sputtered dielectric material, the beam was compressed and passed to the sample through a small hole in a wide screen. Due to the removal of the defective layer, abrasive wear decreased by an order of magnitude and the adhesion of coatings deposited on the cleaned ceramic surfaces improved significantly.

The coatings of ZrN, (Zr,Ti)N, (Ti,Zr,Hf)N and (Ti,Zr,Nb)N deposited on the titanium alloy substrate were compared. The wear resistance in the pin-on-disk test together with the Al2O3 indenter and the corrosion resistance in 3.5% NaCl solution were studied. It was found that the (Zr,Nb,Ti)N coating has the best resistance to wear, but has low corrosion resistance. The (Ti,Zr,Hf)N coating, on the contrary, has the best corrosion resistance, but low resistance to wear. The ZrN coating has good corrosion resistance combined with good resistance to wear. This coating is best suited for use in friction conditions with a ceramic counterbody under the influence of seawater. An important resource for increasing the properties of coatings is increasing their adhesion to the substrate, which can be achieved in two combined ways: (1) complete removal of the original oxide layer from the surface of the substrate and (2) the use of optimal compositions of the adhesive sublayer, which have not only high adhesive properties in relation to both the substrate and the coating, but also high strength. While the introduction of Nb into the ZrN coating composition increases wear resistance and the introduction of Hf increases corrosion resistance, the ZrN coating without additives best resists wear and corrosion simultaneously.

The paper examines the possibility of increasing the wear and corrosion resistance of a CP-Ti surface by duplex plasma electrolytic treatment (borocarburizing and polishing). The structure and composition of diffusion layers, their microhardness, surface morphology and roughness, wear resistance during dry friction and corrosion resistance in Ringer’s solution were studied. The formation of a surface-hardened layer up to 200 μm thick with a microhardness of up to 950 HV, including carbides and a solid solution of boron and carbon, is shown. Subsequent polishing makes it possible to reduce surface roughness and remove weak areas of the porous oxide layer, which are formed during high-temperature oxidation in aqueous electrolyte vapor during borocarburizing. Changing the morphology and structural-phase composition of the CP-Ti surface helps reduce weight wear by a factor of three (the mode of frictional interaction changes from microcutting to oxidative wear) and corrosion current density by a factor of four after borocarburizing in a solution of boric acid, glycerin and ammonium chloride at 950 °C for 5 min and subsequent polishing in an ammonium fluoride solution at a voltage of 250 V for 3 min.

Electrical discharge machining is processing a product made from an electrically conductive material using the method of material destruction under the influence of high-energy electric current pulses. Monitoring and diagnostics of the state of the interelectrode gap and the efficiency of working pulses are carried out by the CNC system by taking into account all emitted electric pulses. However, only a part of all pulses can be called working, i.e., that are aimed at destroying the workpiece material, while they are spent partially on destroying erosion products (debris). It is especially critical for machining materials with threshold conductivity, inclined surfaces up 10-15°, and more than 100 mm in height products. The study examines the possibility of monitoring the process of the interelectrode gap's state through vibration-acoustic diagnostics.

There is a need for further, in-depth research that explores the synthesis of newly developed materials created using advanced technologies [...]