Patent ID: 7763346

Claim:
A surface coated cermet cutting tool comprising: a tool body made of tungsten carbide based hardmetal or a titanium carbonitride based cermet, and a hard coating layer vapor deposited on the surface of the tool body, the hard coating layer having: a lower layer of titanium compound having an overall average thickness of 3 to 20 μm and consisting of one or more chemically vapor-deposited layers selected from a titanium carbide layer, a titanium nitride layer, a titanium carbonitride layer, a titanium carboxide layer, and a titanium oxycarbonitride layer; and an upper layer of property-modified a type aluminum oxide, that has an average thickness of 2 to 20 μm, is composed of Al 2 O 3 of α type crystal structure at a chemically deposited state, and has a crystal grain boundary orientation such that intersection angles between normals of (0001) planes and intersection angles between normals of {10-10} planes are 15° or less in grain boundary units of not less than 45% in number over all the grain boundaries, wherein each of the crystal grain boundary units denotes a grain boundary between two adjacent crystal grains, and the crystal grain boundary orientation of the upper layer is determined using a field emission type scanning electron microscope and an electron-backscattered diffraction pattern imaging device by a method comprising; irradiating an electron beam on each of crystal grains having a hexagonal crystal lattice in a measurement region on a polished surface; performing a measurement of an intersection angle of normal of each of crystal faces subtending to a normal of the polished surface; selecting (0001) planes and {10-10} of each crystals based on the measurement; and determining an intersection angle between normals of (0001) planes and an intersection angle between normals of {10-10} planes at each of the crystal grain boundary units.