AbstractOne of the most useful combinations for coating cutting tools is a triple layer of TiC + TiCN + TiN. This combination gives combined wear protection: TiC has good adhesive wear resistance which protects the cutting tool from flank wear and TiN confers diffusion wear resistance which protects the tool from crater wear. As the number of coating layers was increased, keeping the overall coating thickness constant, the tool life improved when machining steels; the efficiency of the machining process was also improved since the cutting speed could be increased. The life of coated cutting tools when machining steel at different cutting speeds is examined and cutting tools with multilayer and single layer coatings are compared. Comparison is also made between multilayer TiC + TiN and TiC +Al2O3+ TiN coating combinations under the same cutting conditions.