Front. Mech. Eng.
2014, 9(2): 106–119
DOI 10.1007/s11465-014-0301-2
REVIEW ARTICLE
Waseem AKHTAR, Jianfei SUN, Pengfei SUN, Wuyi CHEN, Zawar SALEEM
Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based
super-alloys: A review
© Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract Nickel based super-alloys are widely
employed in aircraft engines and gas turbines due to
their high temperature strength, corrosion resistance and,
excellent thermal fatigue properties. Conversely, these
alloys are very difficult to machine and cause rapid wear of
the cutting tool, frequent tool changes are thus required
resulting in low economy of the machining process. This
study provides a detailed review of the tool wear
mechanism in the machining of nickel based super-alloys.
Typical tool wear mechanisms found by different
researchers are analyzed in order to find out the most
prevalent wear mechanism affecting the tool life. The
review of existing works has revealed interesting findings
about the tool wear mechanisms in the machining of these
alloys. Adhesion wear is found to be the main phenomenon
leading to the cutting tool wear in this study.
Keywords tool wear, nickel based super-alloy, wear
mechanism
1 Introduction
Due to their superior creep, corrosion and oxidation
resistances and, very high toughness and strength at
elevated temperatures, nickel based super-alloys are being
widely used for various aerospace, nuclear, marine, and
chemical applications. Typical industrial applications
include gas turbine components, space vehicles, rocket
engines, submarines, steam power plants, and petrochemi-
Received March 3, 2014; accepted April 22, 2014
✉
Waseem AKHTAR ( ), Jianfei SUN, Pengfei SUN, Wuyi CHEN
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University,
Beijing 100191, China
E-mail: waseem_431@yahoo.com
Zawar SALEEM
Mechanical Engineering department, University of Engineering and
Technology, Taxila, Pakistan
cal equipment. On the other hand, due to the combined
effect of their poor thermal properties (low thermal
conductivity and thermal diffusivity), high temperature
strength, tendency to severe work hardening, and high
tool-workpiece affinity, these materials fall in the class of
very difficult to cut materials [1]. During machining of
these alloys, temperature and stresses close to the tool
cutting edge are considerably high making it prone to
damages such as flank wear, notching wear, edge chipping
etc. hence, resulting in short tool life and degradation of
integrity of the finished surface [2]. In addition, welding
and adhesion of worked material onto the cutting tool
frequently occur during machining causing severe notch-
ing as well as alteration of the tool rake face due to the
consequent pull-out of coating and tool substrate [3].
A number of different areas are being researched in
order to counter the hard machining characteristics of
nickel based alloys and achieve economy of the machining
process. Some of these areas include development of the
new tool and coating materials and methods, optimizing
processes parameters, using different cooling and heating
techniques, e.g. Laser assisted machining, plasma
enhanced machining, cryogenically enhanced machining,
hybrid machining, nitrogen cooling etc. [4]. Although the
development of advanced coating materials for carbide
tools, ceramics and PCBN have achieved considerable
success in the machining of nickel based alloys, short tool
life and surface quality problems still, severally affect the
economy of the machining process. Due to all these
reasons tool wear characteristics while machining of nickel
based alloys has been the main subject under investigation
recently [5].
Several studies on the machining of nickel based alloys
revealed various different failure modes and wear
mechanisms. The use of different tool materials such as
special coatings for carbides, SiC whisker reinforced
alumina, silicon nitride and TiC added alumina ceramics,
CBN etc. to cut this kind of materials was investigated [6].
However, there is a need to compile these works in order to
develop a strong understanding of the prevalent tool wear
 Waseem AKHTAR et al. Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based super-alloys: A review
mechanisms and hence devise solid approaches to subside
the wear intensity caused by these mechanisms.
This paper synthesizes the recent research over tool
failure modes and dominant wear mechanisms in the
machining of nickel-based super-alloys. Most common
failure phenomenon and wear characteristics are then
analyzed by the author in order to find the corresponding
causes leading to these failures. Moreover, different cutting
tools are analyzed for their application in the machining of
these super-alloys and, optimum cutting conditions are
found for each type of the tool. Overall, this study aims to
develop a deep insight for the selection of cutting tools in
the machining of nickel based alloys.
2 Tool wear mechanisms
Nickel based alloys maintain their mechanical strength at
temperature as high as 650°C (even higher) moreover, due
to their severe work hardenability and abrasive action of
hard particles (especially carbides but, also oxides, borides
and nitrides), cutting tool experiences severe thermal and
mechanical loads both in wet and dry machining.
Prominent reasons for poor machinability of Ni-based
alloys maybe summarized as; (i) work hardening occurs
rapidly during machining, (ii) cutting tools suffer from
high abrasive wear owing to the presence of hard abrasive
carbides; (iii) chemical reactions occur at high cutting
temperatures, leading to chemical wear; (iv) diffusion of
workpiece material into the tool and vice versa at high
temperatures; (v) frequent adhesion/welding of workpiece
material onto the cutting tool causes severe notching as
well as spalling on the tool rake; (vi) production of a tough
and continuous chip, which is difficult to control during
machining, thereby contributing to the degradation of the
cutting tool by seizure and cratering; and (vii) the poor
thermal diffusivity of nickel-based alloys often generates
high temperature at the tool tip as well as high thermal
gradients in the cutting tool, which result in large thermal
stresses on both cutting tool and workpiece surfaces [7].
The most known tool wear mode while cutting Inconel
718 was notch wear formed at the depth of cut line [8].
Excessive notch wear was usually seen even at low cutting
speeds. Furthermore; flank wear, chipping and severe
damages and, catastrophic failure were the causes of tool
wear. Many research works were carried out to investigate
the reasons for notch formation and a number of theories
were proposed. The special physical conditions, such as
stress and high temperature gradient were suspected as the
probable causes. The heavily work-hardened surface being
machined was also considered as a probable cause.
However, no consensus of opinions existed as to the
cause of notching when machining nickel-based alloys,
most of the times it was related to a combination of many
factors rather than a single wear mechanism [9].
Mechanically activated wear mechanisms e.g. abrasion
107
and adhesion are the most cited wear mechanisms while
machining of nickel based super-alloys. They occur at both
low and high cutting temperatures and are mainly
depending on the lubrication conditions, contact loads
between tool and work material, and the tool–work
material combination [10]. At lower cutting speeds, only
these mechanically activated wear mechanisms occur.
However, if cutting speeds and thus cutting temperatures
increase, thermally activated wear become significant too.
When the tool material is heated, it loses its strength and
diffusion and chemical wear become active and, tool wear
rate increases.
Here in this study evidences of common tool wear
mechanisms e.g. abrasive wear, adhesive wear, diffusion
wear, chemical wear etc. occurring under different
conditions while machining of nickel based alloys are
compiled from literature in order to find out the most
dominant tool wear mechanisms and their causes in the
machining of nickel-based alloys.
2.1 Abrasive wear
Abrasion wear mechanism was frequently reported in the
machining of nickel based super-alloys with all types of
tool materials [7]. The plucked-off particles from the tool
substrate and hard abrasive carbide particles contained in
the nickel-based alloys were mainly found responsible for
abrasion wear. Moreover, the work hardened burr formed
at the surface generated in the previous pass due to side
flow of the material was also observed to cause abrasive
wear. The morphology of abrasive wear was usually
marked by parallel grooves on the rake and flank face and
by severe notching at the depth of cut point.
Kitagawa et al. [11] carried out the high speed
machining of Inconel 718 with ceramic tools at cutting
speed of 600 m/min. Based on the strong correlation
between the notch wear and the burr height, they deduced
that the main wear mechanism was the abrasive wear rather
than adhesion mechanism. Work-hardened burrs formed
due to the three-dimensional plastic flow in the chip and on
the workpiece, in conjunction with marked side flow of the
chip acted as abrasives at the tool boundary. They also
found that the wear patterns for the two ceramic tools were
different. Crater wear was developed for Si3N4, whereas
notch wear was predominant for Al2O3+ TiC tool at the
same cutting speed, they attributed this difference of
behavior to the different properties of the materials e.g.
chemical reactivity, fracture toughness and abrasion
resistance. Al2O3+ TiC tool always showed comparatively
less abrasive wear in their study.
Ezugwu et al. [12] found that although ceramic tools
maintained hardness at very high temperatures but their
main wear mechanism while machining nickel based
alloys was abrasive wear. The reason was the work
hardening of the material and the abrasion caused by the
plucked off carbide particles which got sandwiched
108 Front. Mech. Eng. 2014, 9(2): 106–119

between the tool and the chip under high pressure. They
further noticed that SiAlON tools were less susceptible to
depth of cut notching as compared to alumina based
ceramics.
Deng et al. [13] while carrying out tool failure
experiments for TiB2 particle and SiCw reinforced Al2O3
ceramic tools in machining Inconel 718 super-alloy found
that; abrasive wear marked by grooves and ridges in the
direction of tool sliding against the newly machined
surface of the workpiece was the main flank wear
mechanism. They associated this abrasive wear to the
rubbing action of hard inclusions in the workpiece
material. The wear by abrasion was related to crack
development and intersection caused by these wear
particles acting as small indenters on the tool face. The
SEM micrograph of the tool wear profile of ABW20
ceramic tool at a cutting speed of 80 m/min is shown in
Fig. 1. They also related the abrasive wear on the rake face
to the same abrasion phenomenon where moving serrated
chips performed the major abrasive action.
Chen et al. [14] carried out drilling of Inconel 718 with
TiAlN coated carbide tool and found that abrasive wear
was the dominant failure mechanism. They found that the
wear process of the carbide drill could be divided into four
stages: firstly the coating on the tool was abraded off by the
abrasive action of the moving chips under high pressure
making the tool surface rough and hence, further
increasing the friction. Secondly, BUE (Built-Up Edge)
started to form on the already worn tool surface hence,
giving rise to the tool chipping from the weaker part of the
cutting edge. Thirdly, micro-cracks were generated by the
chipping of the tool material. These micro cracks then led
to more subsurface fatigue cracks. In the fourth and final
stage, abrasive action of the carbide particles of the
workpiece caused the breakage of cutting edge in the
direction of the fatigue cracks.
Li et al. [15] carried out experimentation to study the
tool wear of triple layer (TiN/Al2O3/TiCN) coated carbide
tool to perform end milling in dry cutting condition at high
speeds. They found that the flank wear and chipping were
the dominant wear modes while crater wear on the rake
face was very limited. They attributed this wear to the
coating failure at high temperatures when cutting at high
speeds of 600 and 900 m/min. Very high temperature at

Fig. 1 SEM micrographs of the wear profile of ABW20 ceramic cutting tool when machining Inconel 718 nickel based alloy (cutting
speed v = 80 m/min, depth of cut ap = 0.3 mm, feed rates f = 0.15 mm/r)
 Waseem AKHTAR et al. Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based super-alloys: A review
these cutting speeds loosened the bonding of the coating
layer which was then plucked off under the abrasive action
of the work hardened machined material thus, leaving the
tool surface prone to further damage. They also found that
the tool wear for up-milling process was rapid as compared
to the down-milling process. This is possibly because in
up-milling processes cutter encounters minimum work-
piece thickness at the start of cut, this rubbing at the
beginning of the cut caused an excessively work hardened
layer in the workpiece resulting in high cutting forces and
thus accelerated tool wear.
Chen et al. [10] carried out end milling experiments with
a four flute bull nose cutter of TiAlN coated tungsten
carbide (grade M612) in dry cutting condition. They found
that flank wear and notching were the main failure modes
and, abrasion was the dominant failure mechanism.
Although they observed the formation of adhesion layer
also but, it did not contribute significantly to the tool wear.
Abrasive wear was thought to cause the excessive chipping
of the tool leading to flank wear and notching.
Yang et al. [16] carried out high speed turning
experiments on powder metallurgy nickel based super-
alloy with coated carbide inserts in dry condition using
various cutting speeds. They observed different failure
modes like rake face wear, flank wear, spalling, abrasive
wear, micro-chipping and breakage of the cutting edge.
However, spalling and breakage were considered to be the
main failure modes. They found that at low speeds (up to
50 m/min) abrasion caused by the work hardened surface
and the flowing chips were the main failure mechanism
causing tool failure.
Olovsjö et al. [17] carried out transverse turning of
Inconel 718 super-alloy with uncoated cemented carbide
tools to find the effect of grain size and hardness of the
workpiece material on the tool wear in wet condition. They
found that flank wear was most affected by the hardness of
the material while grain size had minimal effect on it, vice
Fig. 2 Burr formations for different materials (LG = large grain, SG = Small grain, A = aged, S = solutioned)
109
versa was the case for notch wear. They observed that for
the material with a large grain size (both in the solution
annealed and fully precipitation hardened condition),
extensive burr formation took place due to the lateral
flow of workpiece material during machining. This work
hardened lateral flow was accumulated at the depth of cut
point as shown in Fig. 2. Subsequent abrasive action of the
accumulated material then resulted in a notch at depth of
cut line.
Zhu et al. [18] reviewed the tool wear characteristics of
nickel-based super-alloys. They found that abrasive wear
assisted by adhesive and diffusion wear was the dominant
tool wear mechanism for uncoated cemented carbide,
coated cemented carbide and ceramic tools.
Ucun et al. [19] carried out micro end milling of Inconel
718 super-alloy to analyze the effect of various coating
materials. They found that abrasive wear was the dominant
wear mechanism which resulted in erosion of the tool
diameter. Although BUE (Built-up Edge) formation and
chemical wear were also found but, their effect was not
tool life limiting. They observed that among the coated
tools AlTiN and TiAlN + WC/C coatings gave better
performances as compared to TiAlN + AlCrN and DLC.
Better chipping resistance of coated tools as compared to
uncoated tool was observed.
Khan et al. [20] carried out wet finish turning of solution
treated and aged Inconel 718 super-alloy (HRC 46) with
low grade (50% CBN content) PCBN tool in two
geometric configuration of inserts (C-type & round).
They found that at cutting speed of 150 m/min, the main
tool wear mechanism was abrasion wear assisted by
adhesion phenomenon whereas, it was almost totally
abrasion wear at 300 m/min. Flank wear was the main
failure mode in both cases. They observed that significant
adhesion of the workpiece material to the tool surface in
the form of BUE took place which facilitated the removal
of tool material by the ploughing/abrasive action of the
110 Front. Mech. Eng. 2014, 9(2): 106–119
work hardened workpiece surface. They further noticed
that round type inserts performed far better for both tested
cutting speeds (150 & 300 m/min), they attributed better
performance of round inserts to the reduced stress level on
the cutting edge owing to increased contact area hence
limiting pressure welding and adhesion.
From the above study it can be concluded that, for all
types of tool materials, abrasive wear is a major wear
mechanism in machining of nickel based super-alloys.
Abrasion caused by the hard particles and inclusions from
workpiece materials results mostly in flank wear whereas,
abrasion of work hardened side flown material from the
previous path, causes depth of cut notching. It is also worth
noticing that abrasive wear is not solely responsible for the
failure of tool in most of the cases rather, it is usually
accompanied by the progressive crack formation process
assisted by other mechanism e.g. chipping due to adhesion
and plastic deformation due to thermal fatigue.
For uncoated cemented carbide tools, abrasive wear
usually results in depth of cut notching failure whereas, for
coated cemented carbide tools abrasive failure usually
starts from damaging the coating layer followed by
attrition of the substrate material hence resulting in flank
wear. For alumina based ceramic tools depth of cut
notching is found to be the main failure mode due to
abrasive wear while, SiAlON ceramics tools usually fail by
flank wear. Due to the super hardness of PCBN tools very
few instances of tool failure by abrasive wear were found.
However, of the known cases in which abrasive wear
caused the failure of PCBN tools, flank wear was found to
be the prevalent tool failure mode. It is also important to
note here that no instance of solely abrasive wear causing
failure of CBN tool was found but with the help of
adhesion and diffusion mechanism.
2.2 Adhesion/attrition wear
Adhesive wear is caused by the adhesion of workpiece
material to the tool surfaces under the action of elevated
temperature and stresses. Under the action of high stresses
material gets pressure welded to the tool flank and rake
surface in the form of BUE or BUL (Built-Up Layer). This
newly formed BUE is not stable and is continuously
removed by the flowing chips on the rake face and work-
hardened machined material on the flank face taking with it
aggregates of grains of tool material (attrition), subse-
quently leaving a rough area marked by a number of
grooves and subsurface cracks. At low speeds, temperature
is not too high to plastically deform the material at atomic
scale and hence cause adhesion. On the other hand, at very
high speeds diffusion and chemical wear mechanisms
become dominant. Therefore, the most favorable condition
for adhesive wear to take place is at medium cutting
speeds. This type of wear has long been reported by many
researchers when machining nickel based alloys [21–23].
Ezugwu et al. [7] found that: notching at the tool nose
and/or depth of cutting regions was the most cited failure
mode. They found that different researchers gave different
theories about the mechanisms of depth of cut notching
and there was a lack of consensus among them about a
single wear mechanism. However, the most dominant
theory related it with the fatigue loading on the tool, the
work-hardened layer and, the adherence and subsequent
dislodgement of work material on the notched area.
Notching was also attributed to diffusion–attrition wear
mechanisms by some researchers.
Choudhury et al. [24] found that, notch wear at the depth
of cut line was the main phenomenon of tool wear. They
attributed this wear to a transfer-type wear mechanism due
to adhesion of work material to the tool. They noted the
better performance of Al2O3+ TiC tool as compared to
Si3N4 and SiC reinforced ceramic tools especially, at high
speeds (greater than 400 m/min).
Li et al. [25] carried out experimentation with different
PVD and CVD coated carbide inserts and ceramic
(SiAlON) inserts for cutting Inconel 718. They found
that the main tool wear mechanisms of coated carbide
inserts were adhesive, coating peeling and fracturing, but
the notching wear of coated carbide was not severe during
the experiments. However, for SiAlON grade inserts, they
found that the tools were prone to notching wear, with
minimum tool nose damage at lower speeds (120 m/min)
(Fig. 3). They observed that depth of cut notching
decreased while, tool nose and flank wear increased
when the cutting speed was increased from 240 m/min to
300m/min. Moreover, further increase in the cutting speed
lead to fracture beneath the tool rake face which was
further enhanced by increase in the feed rate.
Ezugwu et al. [12] while studying the machinability of
nickel based alloys with ceramic tools found that as the
cutting speed was increased beyond 510 m/min, the cutting
temperature increased so much that it caused the workpiece
material to pressure weld onto the tool cutting edge.
Prolonged machining at such high speeds softened the
newly generated machined surface thus increasing tool
wear due to attrition.
Deng et al. [13] carried out tool failure experiments for
TiB2 particle and SiCw reinforced Al2O3 ceramic tools
while cutting Inconel 718 super-alloy. They found that
adhesion and diffusion were the dominant failure mechan-
isms. They observed that the cutting temperature reached
to 800°C at 80 m/min and up to 1100°C at 120 m/min. At
such high temperature workpiece material under high
stress was pressure welded to the rake face of the tool
which was then plucked off from the tool surface due to the
abrasive action of the moving chip hence, causing the tool
wear. The SEM micrographs Fig. 4 taken from the wear
track of rake face of ABW20 ceramic cutting tool at cutting
speed of 100 and 120 m/min showed lots of adhering
materials smeared on the rake face.
Krain et al. [26] used CVD coated (TiN/Al2O3/TiCN)
M30 grade carbide inserts in end milling experiments to
 Waseem AKHTAR et al. Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based super-alloys: A review 111

different coatings (TiAlN & AlTiN) for orthogonal turning

of solution treated Inconel 718 (HRC 68) in dry condition.
Their experimental cutting speed was 100 m/min and feed
rate was set to be 0.1–0.2 mm/rev. They found that the
main failure modes limiting the tool life for both types of
coatings were flank wear, chipping and depth of cut
notching. They found that the dominant wear mechanism
causing these failures was the adhesion and welding of the
workpiece material to the tool surfaces as shown in Fig. 5.
The BUE or BUL formed by the adhered workpiece
material was not stable at the experimental cutting speed
rather it was continuously removed by the moving material
under high pressure also carrying aggregates of tool
material with it and hence, accelerating the tool wear.

Fig. 3 SEM micrograph of the worn insert

Fig. 4 Adhesion of work material onto rake and flank faces of

the TiAlN coated tool

find out the effect of cutting parameters on the tool wear

when machining of Inconel 718 alloy. They found that
adhesion of the workpiece material to the tool flank face to
form the BUE edge and subsequent attrition of this newly
formed BUE was the main wear mechanism leading to tool
wear.
Devillez et al. [3] used carbide cutting tools having two Fig. 5 SEM micrograph of the worn rake face
112 Front. Mech. Eng. 2014, 9(2): 106–119
Moreover, they found that the tool wear behavior of AlTiN
coating was better than TiAlN coating as it showed
minimal chipping at the used cutting parameters.
Bhatt et al. [1] studied the performance of uncoated and
coated carbide tools with three different types of coatings
in finish turning of Inconel 718 (HRC 32). They found that
at low speed of 50 m/min adhesive and abrasive wear were
the dominant wear mechanisms for uncoated WC (K313)
and single-layer (TiAlN) PVD coated tool, their main
mode of failure at these speeds was flank wear and crater
wear. However, for triple-layer (TiCN/Al2O3/TiN) CVD
coated tool, failure occurred by flaking of the coating layer
due to crack initiation at the coating-substrate interface as a
result of the formation of n-phase in the carbide substrate.
At medium (75 m/min) and high (100m/min) cutting
speeds the wear mechanisms were same for uncoated and
PVD coated (TiAlN) tools. While, the triple layer coated
tool showed diffusion wear also. Figure 6 shows the SEM
images for the wear mechanisms of the three different
types of tools used at V = 75 m/min and f = 0.075 mm/rev.
They found that for all types of tools feed rate had minimal
effect on the wear mechanisms. The uncoated, single-layer
coated and triple-layer coated tools were observed to
perform better at low, medium and high speeds respec-
tively. They attributed the better performance of the fine-
grained uncoated low-cobalt content tool material to the
exceptional edge wear-resistance, high strength, and
resistance to deformation and depth of cut notch wear.
These properties are adequate to endure the thermal and
mechanical stresses produced in machining Inconel 718 at
this relatively low cutting speed.
Hao et al. [27] carried out dry turning of Inconel 718
Fig. 6 SEM images of the cutting rake and flank face of tools: (a) K313 (uncoated) tool at 8.56 min, (b) (PVD TiAlN) coated tool at
13.91 min, and (c) (CVDTiCN/Al203/TiN) coated tool at 10.39 min
super-alloy with TiAlN coated cemented carbide tool to
study the tool wear mechanisms. They found that at low
speed (20 m/min) adhesion was the main wear mechanism
limiting tool life. They observed that workpiece material
get adhered to the tool surface in the form of BUE Fig. 7.
The BUE was not stable and was continuously carried
away by the flowing chip thus causing tool degradation by
chipping and also by leaving small sub-surface cracks on
the tool. They also observed the adhesion wear phenom-
enon at higher speeds but, this time the material adhesion
and removal took place in the form of lamellar flakes as
shown in Fig. 8.
Kadirgama et al. [9] carried out milling of Hastelloy C-
22HS to investigate tool life and wear mechanisms using
four different types of coated carbide tools (PVD coated
with TiAlN; TiN/TiCN/TiN; CVD coated with TiN/TiCN/
Al2O3; and TiN/TiCN/TiN) in wet condition. They found
that main tool failure modes were notching, chipping,
plastic lowering and catastrophic. Main wear mechanism
was observed to be adhesion wear marked by the formation
of BUE and its continual removal hence assisting attrition
phenomenon which, in conjunction with fatigue induced
cracks caused chipping failure.
Xue et al. [28] studied the formation of adhesive layer
and its effect on the wear of PVD (TiAlN) coated cemented
carbide tool while machining Inconel 718 super-alloy in
wet condition. They found that while flank wear, rake wear
and depth of cut notching were the main failure modes, the
main wear mechanism was adhesive wear. They observed
that although adhesive wear did occur on rake and flank
faces of the tool but, its occurrence on the depth of cut
location was most severe. They attributed depth of cut
 Waseem AKHTAR et al. Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based super-alloys: A review
Fig. 7 SEM images of tool wear morphology (vc = 20 m/min): (a) built-up-edge; (b) chipping; (c) Wear debris
Fig. 8 SEM images of tool wear morphology in high-speed
machining Inconel 718: (a) vc = 40 m/min; (b) vc = 45 m/min; (c) vc
= 45 m/min
notching to the adhesive wear mechanism by relating it to
the continuous welding and then plucking off of the work
hardened material accumulated at the depth of cut point
where notching takes place. They carried out experiments
with different cutting speeds and found that cutting speed
113
of 58 m/min gave better tool performance as compared to
82 m/min and 112 m/min.
Devillez et al. [29] carried out wet and dry turning
experiments of Inconel 718 (HRC44) with CVD (TiCN/
Al2O3/TiN) coated carbide grade to find out the surface
integrity and tool wear modes. They found that adhesion
wear was the main tool wear mechanism causing the rake
and flank wear as well as the depth of cut notching. They
attributed depth of cut notching to the adhesion of
workpiece material (in work hardened form) at the depth
of cut line and, its subsequent plucking by the action of
serrated chips. They also observed that at the employed
cutting speeds of 40–80 m/min tool wear was minimally
effected by the wet or dry condition in fact, dry cutting
seemed to prove better.
Olovsjö et al. [30] carried out wet turning of Inconel 718
and Waspalloy with uncoated cemented carbide tools at
cutting speed of 30 m/min to study the effect of grain size
of workpiece material. They found that notch wear was the
major tool life limiting mode especially in large grain sized
material, they attributed it to the continuous welding and
plucking off of the work hardened material. This work
hardened material was accumulated at the depth of cut
position due to the side flow of the material during cutting.
Although they also found the adhesion of workpiece
material on the rake face but it did not do any harm to the
114 Front. Mech. Eng. 2014, 9(2): 106–119
tool rather it acted as a protective layer against the flowing
chips.
Kasim et al. [31] carried out end milling of Inconel 718
with a carbide ball nose cutter to analyze the wear
mechanisms and prediction of notch location. They found
that depth of cut notching was the main tool failure mode.
They attributed it to the adhesive wear mechanism in
association with abrasive wear. According to them,
adhesion of the workpiece material to the tool surface
caused the formation of BUE which was not stable and was
continuously removed by the flowing material, removal of
BUE resulted in pitting on the tool surface which under the
action of heat and abrasion led to chipping and thus
catastrophic failure at the depth of cut position Fig. 9. They
further noticed that radial depth of cut and cutting speed
were the main parameters affecting the notch formation.
Zhu et al. [18] reviewed the tool wear characteristics of
nickel-based super-alloys. They found that adhesion and
diffusion were the main tool failure mechanism for CBN
tools.
From the above review of studies, it can be deduced that
adhesion wear mechanism is a major cause of tool failure
in the machining of nickel based super-alloys for almost all
type of tool materials. It will not be wrong to say that in
Fig. 9 Four common problem types when milling Inconel 718 with a round type TiAlN/AlCrN insert: (a) flank wear, (b) chipping, (c)
notch wear, and (d) flaking
most of the cases, the tool wear is actually initiated by the
adhesion mechanism.
On the rake and flank faces of the tool adhesion of the
workpiece material causes attrition of the tool surface,
damaging the surface layer and hence making it prone to
the other wear mechanisms e.g. abrasive wear, fatigue
cracking etc. whereas, adhesion and accumulation of the
work-hardened workpiece material on the depth of cut
position causes severe notching by plucking of the adhered
material. Moreover, adhesion of workpiece material under
pressure to the tool surfaces provides the necessary
interface for the other thermally associated wear mechan-
ism active at high temperature e.g. diffusion and chemical
wear.
For uncoated cemented carbide tools adhesion wear
limits tool life by severe flank wear in most of the cases
while depth of cut notching was also observed in large
grain size materials. For coated cemented carbide tools
although different types of coatings showed different
modes of failure, chipping and flaking damage to the tool
coating and subsequent flank and crater wear are most
prevalent wear modes. Depth of cut notching was also
found in some cases especially milling. Similarly, for
ceramic tools adhesion wear led to the flank failure at high
 Waseem AKHTAR et al. Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based super-alloys: A review
speeds (greater than 300 m/min) while depth of cut
notching was prevalent at lower speeds (up to 250 m/
min). For CBN tools very few instances of adhesive wear
alone were found in the literature rather, the adhesion of the
material to the cutting tool assisted diffusion and chemical
wear by providing the necessary interface.
2.3 Diffusion wear
Diffusion wear involves elemental diffusion between
workpiece and tool materials, the process is activated by
high-temperatures and is observed mainly at the tool-chip
interface. This type of wear is more pronounced at high
cutting speeds i.e., when there exists a very high
temperature at the tool-chip interface. At high cutting
speed, the temperature at the tool-chip interface increases
and the transfer of material between the work piece
material and the tool wear occurs. Diffusion wear has been
reported by many researchers during the machining of
nickel based super-alloys. Some of the cases are discussed
below:
Tool failures caused by flank wear and crater wear may
partly be attributed to the diffusion wear mechanism as was
reported by Ezugwu et al. [7] who reviewed the
machinability of nickel based alloys. They quoted the
work of various authors who found diffusion wear
mechanism in almost all type of tool materials e.g.
carbides, ceramics, CBN etc. while machining of nickel
based alloys. They related the wear rate with the cutting
temperatures and the chemical composition of both the tool
and the work material. Machining at high speeds
accelerates the diffusion process due to higher tempera-
tures. The titanium, chromium, nickel and iron from the
work material reacted with aluminium, silicon, and yttrium
from the tool material. They claimed that Ti and Cr had a
stronger effect than Ni and Fe. These elements diffused
into the glassy phase of the tool matrix and reduced its
strength.
In another study Ezugwu [12] while reviewing the
machinability of nickel based alloys found that; as the
cutting speed was increased beyond 30 m/min, carbide
tools due to their poor thermochemical stability encoun-
tered diffusion of tool materials at the tool-chip interface
(into the underside of the chip), as it traverses the tool face.
Diffusion of carbide particles into the cobalt (Co) binder
phase by means of grain boundary diffusion was also
found when machining at a cutting speed of 35 m/min. For
ceramic tools, they found chipping and notching were the
dominating failure modes when machining with the
uncoated Al2O3/SiCw ceramic tool and diffusion wear
was predominant at high speed machining conditions.
They found that diffusion of work piece material (Ni, Cr)
into tool materials was also observed by many researchers
when machining with whisker reinforced alumina ceramic
tools. They observed that diffusion wear mechanism for
CBN tools was similar to carbide tools but occurred at very
115
high speeds and temperature. The most dominant wear
mechanism was diffusion at very high temperatures.
Initially, the adherent layer formed on the tool surface
protected the tool from diffusion wear. However, as the
cutting speed was increased beyond that corresponding to
the minimum tool wear, diffusion phenomenon became
dominant and caused the tool wear. Common failure mode
for CBN tools was flank wear, nose wear or crater wear.
Deng et al. [13] carried out tool failure experiments for
TiB2 particle and SiCw reinforced Al2O3 ceramic tools
while cutting Inconel 718 super-alloy. They found
experimental evidence of diffusion of Ni and Co element
of Inconel718 nickel-based alloys to the tool materials.
EDX analysis of the cross-section of ABW20 showed that
Cr and Mo did not penetrate much into the ceramic tool
surfaces while, the Ni and Co diffused a long way into the
rake face of ABW20 ceramic tool. They attributed this to
the low melting point of Ni and Co.
Costes et al. [32] carried out experiments to find out the
best grain size, composition and cutting speed of CBN tool
for Inconel 718 machining. While analyzing the tool wear
modes, they found that although the depth of cut notching
also occurred, the diffusion of the workpiece material into
the tool material (preceded by adhesion) was the main wear
mechanism. EDX analysis of the deposit from the rake face
of the tool showed that Nb, Cr, Fe and Ni came from the
workpiece while, Al and Ti came from the binder of the
CBN insert. This was due to the reason that, the elements
of the Inconel and CBN had good mutual chemical activity.
They further noticed that CBN tool with 35%–60% CBN
content gave better performance as compared to lower or
higher composition and moreover, CBN tools with smaller
grain size gave better wear properties for all compositions.
They carried out experiments in the range of 50–500 m/
min and found that the speed range of 240–450 m/min was
best in terms of tool wear.
Chen et al. [10] carried out end milling experiments with
a four flute bull nose cutter of TiAlN coated tungsten
carbide (grade M612) in dry cutting condition. They found
that although abrasion was the main wear mechanism at
low cutting speeds, diffusion of workpiece material into
the tool surface was the main tool weakening phenomenon
causing wear especially above 30 m/min.
Yang et al. [16] carried out high speed turning
experiments on powder metallurgy nickel based super
alloy with coated carbide inserts in dry condition using
various cutting speeds. They found that although abrasion
was the main wear mechanism at low speeds (up to 50 m/
min), at high speeds (50–80 m/min) diffusion wear was
dominant. They observed a layer generated on the tool
face. The EDS analysis of this layer revealed that, besides
oxygen, this layer was basically composed of the elements
of Ni, Cr and Ti which are the components of the
workpiece material, and the elements of W and Co which
came from the carbide tool.
Hao et al. [27] carried out dry turning of Inconel 718
116 Front. Mech. Eng. 2014, 9(2): 106–119
super-alloy with TiAlN coated cemented carbide tool to
study the tool wear mechanisms. From the EDS analysis of
the tool surface (after cutting at high speeds) shown in Fig.
10, they observed the diffusion of Ni and Fe elements from
workpiece into the tool due to their affinity for Co and
caused grain boundary diffusion. This resulted in the
looseness of binder phase, furthermore oxidation of Fe and
Ni promoted the formation of Co2O4 furthering lowering
the tool strength and hence allowing wear to occur.
Xue et al. [28] studied the formation of adhesive layer
and its effect on the wear of PVD (TiAlN) coated cemented
carbide tool while machining Inconel 718 super-alloy in
wet condition. Although they did not found diffusion of
workpiece material on the worn tool surface, they did find
tool material diffused in to the work material which
confirms that some diffusion wear also occurred along with
adhesive mechanism.
It is evident from the above studies that diffusion wear
plays a major part in the failure of cutting tools in the
machining of nickel based alloys for almost all type of tool
materials. However, diffusion wear is dominant only at
very high temperature beyond the point corresponding to
minimum tool wear.
Cemented carbide tools have much affinity for elements
(Ni, Cr) of work material. However, because of the low
cutting speeds, the cutting temperatures generated while
machining are usually insufficient to allow the diffusion
wear to happen, so diffusion wear is not very common in
uncoated carbide tools. Coated carbide tools on the other
hand, are used at higher cutting speeds and are more
affected by diffusion wear phenomenon. Diffusion wear is
also prevalent in ceramic tools because of the very high
temperatures generated during high speed machining. Of
all the tool materials, CBN tools are most affected by the
diffusion wear, the reason is: due to their super hardness
and strength at high temperatures, it is very difficult for
abrasive or adhesive wear to cause sufficient damage to the
Fig. 10 Chemical composition at point A
tool. However, the greater affinity between the tool and the
workpiece materials strongly assists the diffusion phenom-
enon.
2.4 Chemical wear
Chemical wear of the tools takes place by the chemical
reaction of the tool elements with surrounding medium e.g.
environment and workpiece material at high temperatures.
Since atoms of the tool material are very stable at low
temperature there is very limited possibility for the
chemical wear to take place, this is the reason why
chemical wear almost always takes place at very high
temperatures. The wear process starts from the tool surface
causing the tool material to soften and lose its properties
hence leaving it prone to other wear mechanism e.g.
attrition etc. Chemical wear is usually marked by a very
smooth worn surface.
Bushlya et al. [33] carried out high speed turning of
Inconel 718 (HRC 45) super-alloy with coated (TiN) and
uncoated low grade PCBN tools. They observed that in the
experimented speed range of 250–350 m/min, while
intensive cratering was the main tool failure mode Fig.
11, chemical wear assisted by the abrasive phenomenon
was the main tool wear mechanism. This was attributed to
the fact that both CBN and binder phases of the tool had a
great affinity for Ni, Fe, Cr & Nb elements of the
workpiece material. They also observed that the difference
between the tool life for coated and un-coated tools
diminished as the cutting speed was increased from 250–
350 m/min, this was attributed to damage of the coating at
higher temperatures.
Kadirgama [9] carried out milling of Hastelloy C-22HS
to investigate tool life and wear mechanisms using four
different types of coated carbide tools (PVD coated with
TiAlN, TiN/TiCN/TiN, CVD coated with TiN/TiCN/
Al2O3, and TiN/TiCN/TiN) in wet condition. They found
 Waseem AKHTAR et al. Tool wear mechanisms in the machining of Nickel based super-alloys: A review
Fig. 11 (a) SEM of worn out CBN tool (vc = 250 m/min, f = 0.1
mm/rev); (b) SEM of worn out CCBN tool (vc = 350 m/min, f =
0.1 mm/rev)
the evidence of oxidation of the tool surface, they
attributed that to the use of water soluble coolant.
Zhu et al. [18] reviewed the tool wear characteristics of
nickel-based super-alloys. They also found evidences of
oxidation wear in cemented carbide and SiAlON tools
while machining nickel based alloys. They attributed it to
the oxidation affinity of Al and Co elements present in
these tools.
From the above review, it is evident that chemical wear
is also found (although not the major tool life limiting wear
phenomenon) in the machining of nickel based alloys. This
can be attributed to the very high temperatures generated
while machining these super-alloys especially at high
speeds. However, Chemical wear is found less reported as
compared to other wear mechanisms. One of the reasons
might be that many researchers have reported chemical
wear in correlation with diffusion wear, for both occur at
high temperatures and show smooth worn surfaces.
It can be further noticed that most of the instances of
chemical wear found in this review were associated with
coated cemented carbide and CBN tools while very less
evidence was found for the ceramic tools. The reason for
this could be the greater chemical affinity between the
elements of coated carbide and CBN tools for Ni, Fe, Cr &
Nb elements in nickel based super-alloys as compared to
ceramic tools.
2.5 Plastic deformation
Plastic deformation of the cutting tool is caused by the
stresses acting on the cutting edge of the tool at very high
temperatures. Due to very high hot hardness of nickel
based alloys, very high temperatures and stresses exist
during the machining process. Increase in temperature
reduces the strength and hardness of the tool materials,
after a certain limit of temperature corresponding to the
tool material is reached, the cutting tool cannot bear the
extremely high pressure acting on it resulting in plastic
117
deformation. Plastic deformation of the tool is usually
accompanied by the growth of micro-cracks already
existing in the tool surface which subsequently causes
chipping or flaking failure.
Ezugwu et al. [12] while studying the machinability of
nickel based alloys with carbide tools found that; the
temperature generated at the tool-workpiece interface
could exceed 1100°C (softening point temperature for
WC) when machining above 30 m/min, the instantaneous
bonding and very high stresses at such high temperature
caused tool failure by rapid cratering and/or plastic
deformation of the cutting edge.
Liao et al. [6] carried out slot milling experiments with
K10 grade carbide end mill on Inconel 718 super-alloy in
dry condition. The cutting speed range selected was 22.6–
147 m/min. They found that flank wear and chipping or
breakage of the cutting edge were the main failure modes.
They noticed that the main wear mechanism was the plastic
deformation of the cutting tool at very high cutting
temperature. The increase in cutting temperature due to the
increase in cutting speed caused the welding of the
workpiece material to the cutting edge in the form of BUE.
The continual formation and removal of BUE on the
cutting edge was supposed to leave surface cracks on the
cutting edge with every removal cycle. As the temperature
went on increasing due to the increase of cutting speed and
restriction of movement of the cutting chips (due to the
chips welded on both sides of the slot), a certain point was
reached at which the cutting tool could not maintain its
hardness and hence, plastic deformation took place. At this
point, the excessive chipping occurred due to the action of
work hardened workpiece surface on already plastically
deformed cutting edge with cracks.
Prengel et al. [34] evaluated the performance of different
coatings (TiAlN-monolayer, TiAlN-multilayer and TiN/
TiCN/TiAlN-multilayer) on WC-6 wt.% Co hard metal
inserts in dry turning of Inconel 718. They found that
TiAlN-multilayer coated outperformed other two coatings.
The main tool wear mechanism in their experiment was the
abrasive wear accompanied by the plastic deformation of
the tool.
Altin et al. [5] studied the effect of cutting speed on dry
turning of Inconel 718 super-alloy with two types of
ceramic tools (SiAlON and, Al2O3+ SiCw) with two
different geometries (square and round). They found that
while flank wear and crater wear were the main failure
modes for square inserts, flank wear and notching failure
were dominant in round inserts. The wear mechanism
observed was the combination of adhesion, thermal
cracking, plastic deformation of cutting edge (Fig. 12)
and abrasion, it was difficult for them to associate the tool
failure to a single wear mechanism. They also observed
that, the wear of ceramics tools decreased with the increase
of cutting speed up to 250 m/min whereas, it increased on
further increase of speed.
While machining nickel based alloys, plastic deforma-
118 Front. Mech. Eng. 2014, 9(2): 106–119
Fig. 12 Plastic deformation of SIALON ceramic insert
tion is mostly seen in uncoated and coated cemented
carbide tools though, ceramic and CBN tools are also
prone to it. During machining of these alloys, the cutting
temperature can become so high that, the thermal softening
point of the carbide material is reached hence, making it
prone to plastic deformation. It can also be inferred from
this study that plastic deformation also plays its role in
chipping and flaking failures of the tools while machining
nickel based alloys. The most dominant theory about this,
given by most researchers is: attrition wear of the tool
surface leaves behind micro sub-surface cracks, as the
temperature increases these micro-cracks start growing
subsequently resulting in chipping or flaking failure with
the assistance of plastic deformation.
3 Conclusions
In this study, the tool wear mechanisms in the machining of
nickel based super-alloys were reviewed. Different types
of tool materials, used under different type of cutting
conditions were analyzed in order to find out the most
dominant wear mechanisms.
It is found that, different types of wear mechanisms e.g.
abrasive wear, adhesive wear, diffusion wear, chemical
wear and plastic deformation are active under different
type of machining conditions. Most of the times these wear
mechanisms act in conjunction to cause tool failure and, it
is often very difficult to hold a single mechanism
responsible for the tool failure. However, the adhesion
wear mechanism is the most prominent cause of tool
failure for all types of tools. Most of the times it act as an
initiator of tool wear thus giving way to the other wear
mechanism to cause further damage. At medium cutting
speeds, adhesion of the workpiece material onto the tool
surface in the form of BUE or BUL causes tool failure by
attrition phenomenon whereas, at higher speeds sub-
surface cracks caused due to the removal of the adhered
material start growing under the action of thermal and
mechanical fatigue subsequently, resulting in the plastic
deformation and/or tool failure by chipping and flaking of
the tool material. Moreover, at high speeds the adhesion
phenomenon assists diffusion and chemical wear by
providing the required material interface. At the depth of
cut position which is the most critical tool location while
machining nickel based alloys (especially with carbide or
ceramic tools), plucking off of the adhered work-hardened
material causes severe notching.
It can thus be concluded that, adhesion wear mechanism
is active at almost all cutting speeds in the machining of
nickel based super-alloys. At medium cutting speeds it
plays the major part and causes tool wear by attrition while,
at high cutting speeds it assists diffusion and chemical
wear to lead tool to failure. It is therefore the major wear
mechanism in the machining of nickel based super-alloys
and, is required to be curbed in order to get better tool
performance.
Moreover, different tool materials were found to have
different optimum cutting conditions. Of all the cutting
parameters cutting speed was found to be the most
dominant parameter controlling the tool wear. Every
different type of tool had its own optimum cutting speed.
Uncoated cemented carbide tools were found to perform
better in the range of 20–50 m/min while coated tools gave
better performance in the range of 40–90 m/min (different
type of coatings perform differently) however, these could
be used for cutting speeds as high as 100 m/min. For
ceramic tools optimum cutting speed was found in the
range of 350–550 m/min and, for PCBN tools cutting
speeds in the range of 250–400 m/min gave better tool life.
Acknowledgements The work reported in this paper was supported by the
Science and Technology Program of Beijing, China (Grant No.
Z121100001612006).
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