Dragonskin – the coating for maximum performance

A tool can only perform at its best if the coating is perfectly tailored to the application. With more than 100 years of experience in carbide development and decades of expertise in coating technology, we assure you that tools with the Dragonskin coating are the best thing that can happen to your machining workflow.

What our Dragonskin products stand for

Our "Dragonskin" label signals the following to you at first glance: You can achieve maximum performance with these tools. And in the form of

  • Significantly longer service life
  • Considerably higher feeds
  • Maximum process security

How to recognise our products with a Dragonskin coating
All products that have the Dragonskin coating are marked accordingly in the online shop with the Dragonskin label. The Dragonskin product category helps you to quickly find and identify tools with the high-performance coating technology from CERATIZIT.

What's the story behind the Dragonskin coating?
We wanted to develop a tool coating that allows you to achieve an unprecedented level of performance in machining. This is why we have brought together all our innovative strength and expert knowledge in power metallurgy. The result is the Dragonskin coating technology, which offers maximum protection against external influences and effectively minimises premature tool wear.
The perfect combination of state-of-the-art high-performance substrates and innovative coating structure achieves high cutting speeds and increased process security. A proven increase in performance of up to 80% thanks to our advanced Dragonskin coating technology provides you with a significant competitive advantage. The perfect combination of state-of-the-art high-performance substrates and innovative coating structure achieves high cutting speeds and increased process security. A proven increase in performance of up to 80% thanks to our advanced Dragonskin coating technology provides you with a significant competitive advantage.


The benefits of the Dragonskin coating at a glance

  • Up to 80% increase in performance
  • Perfect chip flow coupled with increased tool life
  • Reduced cutting pressure
  • Minimal chip adhesion
  • Considerably less wear and therefore lower costs per unit

Want to plunge even deeper into the material? Then download our whitepaper (in English) to learn even more about tools and their coatings.

How does the Dragonskin coating work?

Under Dragonskin, we bring together all our scientific tool expertise. These high-performance coatings are all based on nanolayers consisting of the appropriate combination of different layer systems and coating technologies in each case.

Nanolayers are nanometre-thin layers which are applied alternately. The advantage: you can almost freely combine different properties of various chemical compositions.

After all, it's often the composition that matters. If one layer alone does not yield the desired result, several layers with different properties can form an unbeatable combination that can solve the problem.

By way of example, our CTCM245 CVD cutting material grade, which was developed specifically for machining high-alloy steels. Here, a very tough substrate, an Al2O3layer, a compound layer and a TiCN layer ensure optimum performance. Thermal shocks can be effectively avoided and, at the same time, the CTCM245 is highly temperature resistant, which means that higher cutting speeds can be achieved while reducing flank and crater wear when machining high-alloy steels.

However, that is only one of countless conceivable layer compositions. Depending on the application and carbide substrate, and whether for a shank tool or indexable insert, either PVD or CVD layer systems and the corresponding layer materials are selected and combined. Our basic motivation has always been effectively protecting tools against wear. It may be that sharp cutting edges with thin coatings are needed for some applications, while others require especially thick layers to protect the carbide substrate particularly effectively at high temperatures – anything is possible.

What better way to combat heat than to lead it away from the tool as quickly as possible? That's why CERATIZIT developers also focused on post-treatment in particular with Dragonskin. This is how we achieve extremely smooth surfaces, which have a positive effect on the contact friction between the chip and rake face – chips are removed more quickly. The result: reduced wear coupled with longer tool lives and overall performance increased by up to 80 percent!

We have focused all our innovative strength and expert knowledge in powder metallurgy on one particular objective: developing a tool coating that allows you as a customer to achieve an unprecedented level of performance in machining. We have succeeded in our efforts with the Dragonskin coating technology.

Like the invulnerability of dragon skin, the Dragonskin coating technology offers maximum protection against external influences and effectively prevents premature tool wear. The virtually impenetrable layer has been specially developed for the toughest requirements and can cope with any machining task. The extremely hard surface also catches the eye with its exceptionally refined appearance. 

The perfect combination of state-of-the-art high-performance substrates and advanced coating structure achieves high cutting speeds and increased process security. A proven increase in performance of up to 80% thanks to our advanced Dragonskin coating technology provides you with a significant competitive advantage.