Investigating the feasibility of DLC-coated twist drills in deep-hole drilling

The ideal coating for twist drills used to drill deep holes should have both a high hardness and a smooth surface. The latter property is considered to ease chip evacuation through the drill's chip flutes and, therefore, reduces the risk of chip clogging and possible premature drill fractures. For this reason, diamond-like carbon (DLC) appears to be a well-suited type of coating. This paper presents the results of cutting tests using DLC-coated HSS and cobalt-HSS twist drills when drilling deep holes of diameter 1.5 mm into plain carbon steel. Their capability to extract swarf from the borehole as well as their tool lives were investigated and compared to uncoated and TiN- and MoS 2-coated drills. Although the DLC-coated drills showed a very good swarf disposal capability, they did not exhibit a longer tool life when compared to off-the-shelf drills. © 2009 Springer-Verlag London Limited.