The workpiece material in machining

In machining operations, much attention is paid to the improvement of the lifetime of tools by increasing the hardness of the tool whether or not it is combined with an optimised hard coating. Another method is to change the geometry of the tool by chip breakers and thus shorten the contact time and decrease the friction between chip and tool. Up to now, little attention has been paid to gaining an understanding of the influence of the workpiece material in machining. From forming operations, it is known that the fracture strain under different stress conditions can be predicted by using ductility curves. These curves can be determined easily by two simple material tests. It will be shown that these curves can also be used to understand chip breaking. The work clarifies a part of the role of the cooling liquid, and also the phenomenon that the tool life can sometimes be increased by using a harder workpiece material. A lower friction between chip and tool can be more effective than a harder tool material. Application of this idea teaches us the effect of Molybdenum sulphide (MoS2) as a tool coating and the fine cutting of steel with diamond tools. Another workpiece material property that influences the lifetime of tools is its strain rate dependency on the flow stress. Its prediction is not easy and strongly depends on the material.