I am lucky to have a very good friend that does tool coatings and is on the "cutting edge" so to speak. The latest thing he is developing is called "Ion Implantation". Imagine a TiN coating on a tool the coating actually penetrated the surface of the tool! I've only seen computer simulations so far and I don't know how far away the process is, but it seems to me it will be a revolution in the industry and change cutting tools forever. If you ever need coatings, this is the guy! His shop looks like a mixture of a Russian space station and Frankenstein's laboratory, a great set for a movie!
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