Tool Wear and Tool Life

Tool wear
• Wear is loss of material on an asperity or
micro-contact, or smaller scale, down to
molecular or atomic removal mechanisms. It
usually progresses continuously.
• Tool wear describes the gradual failure of
cutting tools due to regular operation. It is a
term often associated with tipped tools, tool
bits, or drill bit that are used with machine
tools.
 Types of tool wear
• Flank wear
• Crater wear
• Nose wear
 Flank wear
• Flank wear occurs on the tool flank as a result of
• friction between the machined surface of the
• workpiece and the tool flank. Flank wear appears
• in the form of so-called wear land and is
• measured by the width of this wear land, VB,
• Flank wear affects to the great extend the
• mechanics of cutting. Cutting forces increase
• significantly with flank wear. If the amount of
• flank wear exceeds some critical value (VB >
• 0.5~0.6 mm), the excessive cutting force may
• cause tool failure.
 Crater wear
• Crater wear consists of a concave section on the tool
• face formed by the action of the chip sliding on
• the surface. Crater wear affects the mechanics of
• the process increasing the actual rake angle of the
• cutting tool and consequently, making cutting
• easier. At the same time, the crater wear weakens
• the tool wedge and increases the possibility for
• tool breakage. In general, crater wear is of a
• relatively small concern.
 Nose wear
• Nose wear occurs on the tool corner. Can be
• considered as a part of the wear land and
• respectively flank wear since there is no
• distinguished boundary between the corner wear
• and flank wear land. We consider nose wear as a
• separate wear type because of its importance for
• the precision of machining. Nose wear actually
• shortens the cutting tool thus increasing gradually
• the dimension of machined surface and
• introducing a significant dimensional error in
• machining, which can reach values of about
• 0.03~0.05 mm.
 Effects of Tool Wear
• Some General effects of tool wear include:
• • Increased cutting forces
• • Increased cutting temperatures
• • Poor surface finish
• • Decreased accuracy of finished part
• • May lead to tool breakage
• • Causes change in tool geometry
 Wear Control
• The rate of tool wear strongly depends on the cutting
temperature, therefore , any measures which could be
applied to reduce the cutting temperature would
reduce the tool wear as well.
• Reduction in tool wear can be accomplished by using
lubricants and coolants while machining. These reduce
friction and temperature, thus reducing the tool wear.
• Additional measures to reduce the tool wear include
the application of advanced cutting tool materials,
such as coated carbides, ceramics, etc.
 Tool Life Definition
• Actual machining time (period) by which a fresh
cutting tool (or point) satisfactorily works after
which it needs replacement or reconditioning.
• Tool life means the span of actual machining
time by which a fresh tool can work before
attaining the specified limit of tool wear. Mostly
tool life is decided by the machining time till
flank wear, VB reaches 0.3 mm or crater wear,
KT reaches 0.15 mm.
 Assessment of tool life
There are three ways of assessment of tool life
1. No. of pieces of work machined – This is
used commonly when the tool operates
continuously .
2. Total volume of material removed –This is
used commonly when the tool is used for high
stock removal.
3. Total length of cut
 Modes Of Failure Of Tool
1-Premature Failure
(a)Fracture failure - Cutting force becomes
excessive and/or dynamic, leading to brittle
fracture.
(b)Thermal failure - Cutting temperature is too
high for the tool material.
2-Gradual Wear-Gradual failure
TAYLOR’S TOOL LIFE EQUATION