Moving towards sustainable manufacturing by extending the tool life of the pine wood planing process using the AlCrBN coating

Abstract Sustainable manufacturing is about increasing productivity while using less raw materials, reducing costs and reducing the environmental impact. In this context, the durability of tools used in woodworking processes is one of the most important factors with regard to both the consumption of raw materials, energy and resources necessary for their production and the costs of manufacturing processes. This article presents an analysis of the possibility of significant (doubling) extension of durability of industrial planar knives used in pine wood planing process. Such an effect was achieved by using an advanced multilayer thin anti-wear AlCrBN coating applied on tools in the PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) process. The paper describes the AlCrBN coating deposition method and their properties. The methodology of exploitation tests carried out in industrial conditions and the methodology of evaluation of test results are given in detail. The analysis of an extensive set of indicators for the evaluation of planar knives wear phenomena including the evaluation of durability of the knives, radius of cutting edge, worn edge displacement and wear area, texture of the knives rake face, as well as microscopic observation of the cutting edge condition in and out of the working area is presented. The research has shown the possibility of more than doubling the life (205%) of industrial planar knives in pine wood planing process with reference to unmodified tools. The measurements showed that the use of multilayer thin anti-wear AlCrBN-coated knives resulted in a reduction in knife wear (expressed as the average value of the cutting edge radius) of about 18% in relation to the unmodified knife radius (with AlCrBN-coated knives working twice as long under the same conditions). Application of AlCrBN coating reduced the rate of worn edge displacement almost two times during operation, to the value of about 54% in relation to unmodified knives wear. The mean specific wear area of the cutting edge Aw’ for AlCrBN-coated knives was 67% in relation to the mean value determined for unmodified knives.