The three modes of tool failure allow us to identify three important properties

required in a tool material:

1. Toughness. To avoid fracture failure, the tool material must possess high
toughness. Toughness is the capacity of a material to absorb energy without
failing. It is usually characterized by a combination of strength and ductility in
the material.
2. Hot hardness. Hot hardness is the ability of a material to retain its hardness at
high temperatures. This is required because of the high-temperature environment
in which the tool operates.
3. Wear resistance. Hardness is the single most important property needed to
resist abrasive wear. All cutting-tool materials must be hard. However, wear
resistance in metal cutting depends on more than just tool hardness, because of
the other tool-wear mechanisms.
Other characteristics affecting wear resistance include surface finish on the tool
(a smoother surface means a lower coefficient of friction), chemistry of tool and
work materials, and whether a cutting fluid is used.
4. High Thermal Conductivity and Specific heat. The thermal conductivity of
the tool depends on the tool geometry as well as the specific heat of the material.
Higher specific heat enables the heat generated during machining to be
transferred into the machine body without raising the tool temperature.
5. Low Coefficient of friction. Low Coefficient of friction reduces the heat
generated due to friction between both the tool and the work piece, as well as the
tool and the chip at the tool face.
6. Low Cost. For economical production, the cost of the tool material must be as
low as possible.
7. Chemical Stability. Chemical stability with respect to the workpiece materials
is an important factor so that any adverse reactions could results in tool wear must
be avoided.
1. Carbon tool Steel: this tool contains 0.6 to 1.4 percent carbon along with low
percentage of manganese, silicon, sulphur and phosphorous. It has low hot
hardness and it is suitable for low cutting speeds.

2. Alloy tool steels: this carbon tool contains some alloying elements such as
Chromium-Cr, Tungsten-W, Molybdenum-Mo and Vanadium-V. They can be
used for higher cutting speeds as compared to carbon tools.

3. High-speed steel (HSS): is a highly alloyed tool steel capable of maintaining

hardness at elevated temperatures better than high carbon and low alloy steels.
It’s good hot hardness permits tools made of HSS to be used at higher cutting
speeds. Compared with the other tool materials at the time of its development, it
was truly deserving of its name ‘‘high speed.’’ A wide variety of high-speed steels
are available, but they can be divided into two basic types: (1) tungsten-type,
designated T-grades by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI); and (2)
molybdenum-type, designated M-grades by AISI.

(extra note about HSS)

Tungsten-type HSS contains tungsten (W) as its principal alloying ingredient.
Additional alloying elements are chromium (Cr), and vanadium (V). One of the
original and best known HSS grades is T1, or 18-4-1 high-speed steel, containing
18%W, 4%Cr, and 1%V.
Molybdenum HSS grades contain combinations of tungsten and molybdenum
(Mo), plus the same additional alloying elements as in the T-grades. Cobalt (Co)
is sometimes added to HSS to enhance hot hardness. Of course, high-speed steel
contains carbon, the element common to all steels.

4. Cast cobalt alloy: cutting tools consist of cobalt, around 40% to 50%;
chromium, about 25% to 35%; and tungsten, usually 15% to 20%; with trace
amounts of other elements.
5. Cemented Carbides, Cermets, And Coated Carbides:

a) Cemented Carbides Cemented carbides (also called sintered carbides) are a

class of hard tool material formulated from tungsten carbide (WC) using powder
metallurgy techniques (Chapter 16) with cobalt (Co) as the binder. There may be
other carbide compounds in the mixture, such as titanium carbide (TiC) and/or
tantalum carbide (TaC), in addition to WC.

Non steel-cutting grades refer to those cemented carbides that are suitable for
machining aluminum, brass, copper, magnesium, titanium, and other nonferrous
metals; anomalously, gray cast iron is included in this group of work materials.
In the non-steel cutting grades, grain size and cobalt content are the factors that
influence properties of the cemented carbide material.

Steel-cutting grades are used for low carbon, stainless, and other alloy steels.
For these carbide grades, titanium carbide and/or tantalum carbide is substituted
for some of the tungsten carbide. TiC is the more popular additive in most
applications. Typically, from 10% to 25% of the WC might be replaced by
combinations of TiC and TaC. This composition increases the crater wear
resistance for steel cutting, but tends to adversely affect flank wear resistance for
nonsteel-cutting applications. That is why two basic categories of cemented
carbide are needed.

The general properties of the two types of cemented carbides are similar: (1) high
compressive strength but low-to-moderate tensile strength; (2) high hardness; (3)
good hot hardness; (4) good wear resistance; (5) high thermal conductivity; (6)
high modulus of elasticity; and (7) toughness lower than high-speed steel.

b) Cermets Although cemented carbides are technically classified as cermet

composites, the term cermet in cutting-tool technology is generally reserved for
combinations of TiC, TiN, and titanium carbonitride (TiCN), with nickel and/or
molybdenum as binders. Applications of cermets include high-speed finishing
and semi finishing of steels, stainless steels, and cast irons.

c) Coated carbides are a cemented carbide insert coated with one or more thin
layers of wear-resistant material, such as titanium carbide, titanium nitride, and/or
aluminum oxide (Al2O3). Coated carbides are used to machine cast irons and
steels in turning and milling operations. They are best applied at high cutting
speeds in situations in which dynamic force and thermal shock are minimal.

6. Ceramics:
Ceramic cutting tools are composed primarily of fine-grained aluminum oxide
(Al2O3), pressed and sintered at high pressures and temperatures with no binder
into insert form. Ceramic cutting tools can be used to obtain very good surface
finish. Ceramics are not recommended for heavy interrupted cut operations
because of their low toughness.
7. Synthetic Diamonds and Cubic Boron Nitride:
Diamond is the hardest material known. By some measures of hardness, diamond
is three to four times as hard as tungsten carbide or aluminum oxide. Sintered
polycrystalline diamond is fabricated by sintering fine-grained diamond crystals
under high temperatures and pressures into the desired shape. Cubic boron
nitride is the hardest material known, and its fabrication into cutting tool inserts
is basically the same as SPD; that is, coatings on WC–Co inserts. Cubic boron
nitride (symbolized cBN) does not react chemically with iron and nickel as SPD
does; therefore, the applications of cBN-coated tools are for machining steel and
nickel-based alloys.
Both SPD and cBN tools are expensive, as one might expect, and the applications
must justify the additional tooling cost.