Manufacturing Technology

MEC205
Tool wear and Tool life
What is tool failure?
“State of the tool when it ceases to function satisfactory.”
Wear-loss of material due to rubbing action between two surfaces
results in change in the desired geometry.

Sture Hogmark, Uppsala University, The Ångström Laboratory, Sweden

Mikael Olsson, Dalarna University, Sweden
Tool life: Definition
1. In industries or shop floor : The length of time of satisfactory
service or amount of acceptable output provided by a fresh tool prior
to it is required to replace or recondition.
Criterion of tool failure
1. Total tool destruction/ breakdown
• The cutting tool is unable to cut .
• It produces highly burnished surface on work, nose of tool
completely worn-out.
2. Temperature failure
• The tool get overheated and cutting edge get soften and stop
functioning.
• This is due to when temperature of machining zone exceed hot
hardness temperature.
Criterion of tool failure
3. Increased feed
• Due to excessive feed, flank wear takes place.
4. Increased in power consumption
• Due to tool failure, cutting force will increase results in more
power consumption
5. Poor surface finish
• Occurrence of sudden change in surface finish of work surface.
6. Increased noise level
• Sudden change in the cutting noise level.
7. Chipping of tool
8. Formation of crack
Types of tool failure
Tool failure may be classified as
1. Temperature failure- This can be due to either
a. Plastic deformation of cutting edge due to high temperature
b. Cracking at the cutting edge due to thermal stress
2. Chipping of the edge or fracture due to mechanical impact
3.Built up edge
4.Chemical decomposition
5. Gradual microscopic wear
Types of tool failure
Tool failure may be classified as
1. Temperature failure- This can be due to either
a. Plastic deformation of cutting edge due to high temperature
• As cutting speed increases-
b. Cracking at the cutting edge due to thermal stress
Types of tool failure
Tool failure may be classified as
2. Chipping of the edge or fracture due to mechanical impact
• Occurs during engagement and disengagement with work.
• Chipping is not depends upon speed, feed and depth of cut.
3. Built up edge(BUE)
•BUE protect rake face when it is
stable and increases tool life.
•But when it is unstable , large
force is exerted by chip on BUE
which results in breakdown of
BUE which reduced tool life
Tool wear
“Tool wear may be defined as loss of weight of tool.”
Effects of tool wear
1. Increased cutting force
2. Poor surface finish
3. Reduced dimensional accuracy
4. Vibration
5. Tool failure
6. Damage workpiece geometry
Types of cutting tool wear
1.Adhesion wear.
2.Abrasive wear.
3.Diffusion wear.
4.Fatigue.
5.Microchipping.
6. Gradual wear(Flank and Crater wear)
7.Plastic deformation/temperature failure
©2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. M. P. Groover, “Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing 2/e”
1. Adhesion Wear:
fragments of the workpiece get welded to the tool surface at high
temperatures; eventually, they break off, tearing small parts of the tool
with them.
2. Abrasion:
• hard particles, microscopic variations on the bottom surface of the
chips rub against the tool surface.
•Abrasive wear dominates the flank and crater wear
3. Diffusion wear:
at high temperatures, atoms from tool diffuse across to the chip; the
rate of diffusion increases exponentially; this reduces the fracture
strength of the crystals.
e.g. machining of Cast iron by diamond tool

Sture Hogmark, Uppsala University, The Ångström Laboratory, Sweden

Mikael Olsson, Dalarna University, Sweden
4. Fatigue and fracture:
Macroscopic fracture of the whole tool can occur . More common is
localized chippings of the tool edge

(a) Edge fracture (b) edge chippings due to local overloading and
fatigue of hob teeth.

Wear mechanisms of HSS cutting tools Sture Hogmark, Uppsala University, The Ångström
Laboratory, SwedenMikael Olsson, Dalarna University, Sweden
5.Plastic deformation:
•Sometimes, the HSS tool edge is loaded beyond its yield strength
and deforms by large-scale plastic deformation.
•resulting in edge blunting.

Wear mechanisms of HSS cutting tools Sture Hogmark, Uppsala University, The Ångström
Laboratory, SwedenMikael Olsson, Dalarna University, Sweden
6. Gradual wear occurs at two locations on a tool:
a– occurs on top rake face at some distance from cutting edge.
– occurs on flank (side of tool)
•The worn region at the flank is called wear land
7. Gradual wear occurs at two locations on a tool:
occurs on flank (side of tool)
Measurement of tool life
Flank wear:
Is normally caused by:
Sliding of tool over work piece; causes adhesion, adhesive wear.
“Taylor’s” equation (FW Taylor, 1907)

VT  c n

V=cutting speed,(m/min) T= tool life(min) n=exponent depend on cutting condition,

c=constant
•Tool life vs. cutting speed is plotted on a log-log graph. We can directly obtain ‘n’ from it:
•Range of n
• High speed steel: 0.08 to 0.2
• Carbides: 0.2 to 0.5
• Ceramic: 0.5 to 0.7
•Temperature:
• Since temperature effect physical properties experiments have been done to prove it.
Measurement of tool life
Flank wear:
Is normally caused by:
Sliding of tool over work piece
Temperature; famous “Taylor’s” equation (FW Taylor, 1907)

VT  c n

Expected tool life

1. Cast steel tool- 22 min
2. HSS- 60 to 120 min
3. Cemented carbide- 240- 480 min
Tool life curves:
New Equation:

VT d f  C
w x y

d=depth of cut, f=feed (mm/rev)

T  C 1/ nV 1/ n d  x / n f  y / n
1. In a turning operation using high speed steel tooling, a cutting
speed v = 90 m/min is used. The Taylor tool life equation has
parameters n = 0.120 and C = 130 (m/min) when the operation is
conducted dry. When a coolant is used in the operation, the value of
C is increased by 10%.
Determine the percent increase in tool life that results if the cutting
speed is maintained at v = 90 m/min.
Crater wears occurs at

A)Flank face
B) Rake face
Tool Life equation governs the

A)Crater Wear
B) Flank Wear