New theories of wear and their implications for tool materials

Abstract

The early development of cutting tool materials was accomplished in the absence of the complete understanding of wear mechanisms through ingenuity, empiricism and intuition. Now the wear mechanisms are better understood in fundamental terms. The important wear mechanisms are abrasion, delamination and chemical dissociation and dissolution. Depending on the specific material and the cutting conditions, one of these mechanisms dominates the wear process. Currently available tool materials are briefly evaluated in terms of the fundamental requirements ( i.e. wear resistance, toughness and resistance to gross plastic deformation) of a cutting tool and the rate-controlling wear mechanisms, and the future prospects for better cutting tool materials are discussed.