In machining/manufacturing science, cutting-tool degradation occurs through three distinct mechanisms — catastrophic mechanical breakage, rapid plastic deformation of the cutting edge under heat and stress, and gradual wear (via mechanical, thermally-sensitive, thermochemical/diffusion, chemical, and galvanic/electrochemical mechanisms) — of which only the rate of gradual wear can be controlled rather than eliminated. Tool life, the finite operating duration or output before a tool must be replaced or reconditioned, is empirically related to cutting velocity through Taylor's tool life equation (VTⁿ = constant) and its modified form incorporating feed and depth of cut, providing a quantitative model connecting a machining process variable to tool degradation rate.
In machining/manufacturing science, cutting-tool degradation occurs through three distinct mechanisms — catastrophic mechanical breakage, rapid plastic deformation of the cutting edge under heat and …