Chapter 23:

Cutting Tool Technology

Rizwan M. Gul
NWFP UET

Page 1
 CUTTING TOOL TECHNOLOGY

• Tool Life
• Tool Materials
• Tool Geometry
• Cutting Fluids

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 Cutting Tool Technology

Two principal aspects:

1. Tool material
2. Tool geometry

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 Three Modes of Tool Failure

• Fracture failure
 Cutting force becomes excessive and/or dynamic,
leading to brittle fracture
• Temperature failure
 Cutting temperature is too high for the tool
material
• Gradual wear
 Gradual wearing of the cutting tool

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 Preferred Mode of Tool Failure:
Gradual Wear
• Fracture and temperature failures are premature
failures
• Gradual wear is preferred because it leads to the
longest possible use of the tool
• Gradual wear occurs at two locations on a tool:
 Crater wear – occurs on top rake face
 Flank wear – occurs on flank (side of tool)

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Figure 23.1 - Diagram of worn cutting tool, showing the principal
locations and types of wear that occur

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Figure 23.2 -

(a) Crater wear, and

(b) flank wear on a cemented

carbide tool, as seen
through a toolmaker's
microscope

(Courtesy Manufacturing
Technology Laboratory,
Lehigh University, photo
by J. C. Keefe)

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 Figure 23.3 - Tool wear as a function of cutting time
Flank wear (FW) is used here as the measure of tool wear
Crater wear follows a similar growth curve

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Figure 23.4 - Effect of cutting speed on tool flank wear (FW) for three
cutting speeds, using a tool life criterion of 0.50 mm flank wear

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Figure 23.5 - Natural log-log plot of cutting speed vs tool life

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 Taylor Tool Life Equation

This relationship is credited to F. W. Taylor (~1900)

vT  C
n

where v = cutting speed; T = tool life; and n and C

are parameters that depend on feed, depth of cut,
work material, tooling material, and the tool life
criterion used
• n is the slope of the plot
• C is the intercept on the speed axis

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 Tool Life Criteria in Production

1. Complete failure of cutting edge

2. Visual inspection of flank wear (or crater wear) by the
machine operator
3. Fingernail test across cutting edge
4. Changes in sound emitted from operation
5. Chips become ribbony, stringy, and difficult to dispose of
6. Degradation of surface finish
7. Increased power
8. Workpiece count
9. Cumulative cutting time

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 Tool Materials

• Tool failure modes identify the important properties

that a tool material should possess:
 Toughness - to avoid fracture failure
 Hot hardness - ability to retain hardness at high
temperatures
 Wear resistance - hardness is the most important
property to resist abrasive wear

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Figure 23.6 - Typical hot hardness relationships for selected tool
materials. Plain carbon steel shows a rapid loss of hardness as
temperature increases. High speed steel is substantially better,
while cemented carbides and ceramics are significantly harder
at elevated temperatures.

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 Typical Values of n and C in
Taylor Tool Life Equation
Tool material n C (m/min) C (ft/min)
High speed steel:
Non-steel work 0.125 120 350
Steel work 0.125 70 200
Cemented carbide
Non-steel work 0.25 900 2700
Steel work 0.25 500 1500
Ceramic
Steel work 0.6 3000 10,000

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 High Speed Steel (HSS)

• Highly alloyed tool steel capable of maintaining

hardness at elevated temperatures better than high
carbon and low alloy steels
• One of the most important cutting tool materials
• Especially suited to applications involving
complicated tool geometries, such as drills, taps,
milling cutters, and broaches
• Two basic types (AISI)
1. Tungsten-type, designated T- grades
2. Molybdenum-type, designated M-grades

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 High Speed Steel Composition

• Typical alloying ingredients:

 Tungsten and/or Molybdenum
 Chromium and Vanadium
 Carbon, of course
 Cobalt in some grades
• Typical composition:
 Grade T1: 18% W, 4% Cr, 1% V, and 0.9% C

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 Cemented Carbides

• Class of hard tool material based on tungsten

carbide (WC) using powder metallurgy techniques
with cobalt (Co) as the binder
• Two basic types:
1. Non-steel cutting grades - only WC-Co
2. Steel cutting grades - TiC and TaC added to
WC-Co

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Cemented Carbides – General Properties

• High compressive strength but low-to-moderate

tensile strength
• High hardness (90 to 95 HRA)
• Good hot hardness
• Good wear resistance
• High thermal conductivity
• High elastic modulus - 600 x 103 MPa (90 x 106 lb/in2)
• Toughness lower than high speed steel

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 Non-steel Cutting Carbide Grades

• Used for nonferrous metals and gray cast iron

• Properties determined by grain size and cobalt
content
 As grain size increases, hardness and hot
hardness decrease, but toughness increases
 As cobalt content increases, toughness improves
at the expense of hardness and wear resistance

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 Steel Cutting Carbide Grades

• Used for low carbon, stainless, and other alloy steels

 For these grades, TiC and/or TaC are substituted
for some of the WC
 This composition increases crater wear resistance
for steel cutting, but adversely affects flank wear
resistance for non-steel cutting applications

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 Cermets

• Combinations of TiC, TiN, and titanium carbonitride

(TiCN), with nickel and/or molybdenum as binders.
• Some chemistries are more complex
• Applications: high speed finishing and semifinishing
of steels, stainless steels, and cast irons
 Higher speeds and lower feeds than steel-cutting
carbide grades
 Better finish achieved, often eliminating need for
grinding

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 Coated Carbides
• Cemented carbide insert coated with one or more
thin layers of wear resistant materials, such as TiC,
TiN, and/orAl2O3
• Coating applied by chemical vapor deposition or
physical vapor deposition
• Coating thickness = 2.5 - 13 m (0.0001 to 0.0005 in)
• Applications: cast irons and steels in turning and
milling operations
• Best applied at high speeds where dynamic force and
thermal shock are minimal

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 Ceramics

• Primarily fine-grained Al2O3, pressed and sintered at

high pressures and temperatures into insert form with
no binder
• Applications: high speed turning of cast iron and steel
• Not recommended for heavy interrupted cuts (e.g.
rough milling) due to low toughness
• Al2O3 also widely used as an abrasive in grinding

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 Synthetic Diamonds
• Sintered polycrystalline diamond (SPD) - fabricated
by sintering very fine-grained diamond crystals under
high temperatures and pressures into desired shape
with little or no binder
• Usually applied as coating (0.5 mm thick) on WC-Co
insert
• Applications: high speed machining of nonferrous
metals and abrasive nonmetals such as fiberglass,
graphite, and wood
 Not for steel cutting

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 Cubic Boron Nitride

• Next to diamond, cubic boron nitride (cBN) is hardest

material known
• Fabrication into cutting tool inserts same as SPD:
coatings on WC-Co inserts
• Applications: machining steel and nickel-based alloys
• SPD and cBN tools are expensive

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 Tool Materials

• High Speed Steel (HSS)

• Cemented Carbides
• Cermets
• Coated Carbides
• Ceramics
• Cubic Boron Nitride
• Synthetic Diamonds

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 Tool Geometry

Two categories:
• Single point tools
 Used for turning, boring, shaping, and planing
• Multiple cutting edge tools
 Used for drilling, reaming, tapping, milling,
broaching, and sawing

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 Single-
Point
Tool
Geometry

Figure 23.7 - (a)

Seven elements of
single-point tool
geometry; and (b) the
tool signature
convention that
defines the seven
elements

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Page 30
Figure 23.9 - Three ways of holding and presenting the cutting edge for a
single-point tool:
(a) solid tool, typical of HSS;
(b) brazed insert, one way of holding a cemented carbide insert; and
(c) mechanically clamped insert, used for cemented carbides, ceramics,
and other very hard tool materials

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Figure 23.10 - Common insert shapes: (a) round, (b) square, (c)
rhombus with two 80 point angles, (d) hexagon with three 80
point angles, (e) triangle (equilateral), (f) rhombus with two 55
point angles, (g) rhombus with two 35 point angles. Also shown
are typical features of the geometry.

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 Twist Drills
• By far the most common cutting tools for hole-making
• Usually made of high speed steel

Figure 23.12 - Standard geometry of a twist drill

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 Twist Drill Operation

• Rotation and feeding of drill bit result in relative

motion between cutting edges and workpiece to form
the chips
 Cutting speed varies along cutting edges as a
function of distance from axis of rotation
 Relative velocity at drill point is zero, so no cutting
takes place
 A large thrust force is required to drive the drill
forward into hole

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 Twist Drill Operation - Problems

• Chip removal
 Flutes must provide sufficient clearance to allow
chips to be extracted from bottom of hole
• Friction makes matters worse
 Rubbing between outside diameter of drill bit and
newly formed hole
 Delivery of cutting fluid to drill point to reduce
friction and heat is difficult because chips are
flowing in the opposite direction

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 Milling Cutters

• Principal types:
 Plain milling cutter
 Form milling cutter
 Face milling cutter
 End milling cutter

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 Plain Milling Cutter
• Used for peripheral or slab milling

Figure 23.13 -
Tool geometry elements
of an 18-tooth plain
milling cutter

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 Form Milling Cutter

Peripheral milling cutter in which cutting edges have

special profile to be imparted to work
• Important application
 Gear-making, in which the form milling cutter is
shaped to cut the slots between adjacent gear
teeth, thereby leaving the geometry of the gear
teeth

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 Face Milling Cutter
• Teeth cut on side and periphery of the cutter

Figure 23.14 - Tool geometry elements of a four-tooth face

milling cutter: (a) side view and (b) bottom view

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 End Milling Cutter

• Looks like a drill bit but designed for primary cutting

with its peripheral teeth
• Applications:
 Face milling
 Profile milling and pocketing
 Cutting slots
 Engraving
 Surface contouring
 Die sinking

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 Cutting Fluids

Any liquid or gas applied directly to machining operation

to improve cutting performance
• Two main problems addressed by cutting fluids:
1. Heat generation at shear zone and friction zone
2. Friction at the tool-chip and tool-work interfaces
• Other functions and benefits:
 Wash away chips (e.g., grinding and milling)
 Reduce temperature of workpart for easier
handling
 Improve dimensional stability of workpart

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 Cutting Fluid Functions

• Cutting fluids can be classified according to function:

 Coolants - designed to reduce effects of heat in
machining
 Lubricants - designed to reduce tool-chip and
tool-work friction

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 Coolants

• Water used as base in coolant-type cutting fluids

• Most effective at high cutting speeds where heat
generation and high temperatures are problems
• Most effective on tool materials that are most
susceptible to temperature failures (e.g., HSS)

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 Lubricants

• Usually oil-based fluids

• Most effective at lower cutting speeds
• Also reduces temperature in the operation

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 Cutting Fluid Contamination

• Tramp oil (machine oil, hydraulic fluid, etc.)

• Garbage (cigarette butts, food, etc.)
• Small chips
• Molds, fungi, and bacteria

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Dealing with Cutting Fluid Contamination

• Replace cutting fluid at regular and frequent intervals

• Use filtration system to continuously or periodically
clean the fluid
• Dry machining

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 Cutting Fluid Filtration

Advantages:
• Prolong cutting fluid life between changes
• Reduce fluid disposal cost
• Cleaner fluids reduce health hazards
• Lower machine tool maintenance
• Longer tool life

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 Dry Machining

• No cutting fluid is used

• Avoids problems of cutting fluid contamination,
disposal, and filtration
• Problems with dry machining:
 Overheating of the tool
 Operating at lower cutting speeds and production
rates to prolong tool life
 Absence of chip removal benefits of cutting fluids
in grinding and milling

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